Return of Utgarda
by Anastasia T Wolfe
Summary: Loki's been sprung, impersonating Odin, and this time the old man doesn't want to deal, and so he sends Loki away. Stripped of his powers and in SHIELD custody with a jailer that can see through his trickery, Loki is really going to hate this. And then suddenly bad guys. This is going to be more fun than a bag full of cats.
1. Chapter 1

He was a major criminal with super powers, technically, and so SHEILD had officially taken over the custody of the war criminal. Part of that was due to Asgard's dialogue and peace treaty with Earth was that Loki, who had destroyed a good quarter of New York, was processed and punished by SHIELD authorities.

And so they waited in New Mexico, a place known all too well by the humans as a landing ground for aliens and Asgardians alike. And he waited with his so-called family, entirely powerless, waiting for the SHEILD agents that were to collect him. And another thing, he was gagged. No one wanted to hear his opinion about this, which was basically that this whole thing was a massive crock and he wished that they would just punish him already.

"It is rude to keep us waiting," Odin crossed his arms across his chest, dressed regally in dark robes. Loki sighed and shook his head; it was all that he could do muzzled like some damn dog. He rolled his eyes.

"This desert is large," Thor said calmly, "and this land is wide."

There was a muffled whine from behind the muzzle.

"Thank you very much," Thor understood what he was trying to say, either that or he was just pretending.

He spied the cars on the horizon, black and completely different from the orange sands and the blaring white sun. powder and dirt were sprayed into the air as the armored SUV's approached the crater site. It was like and approaching black tide, dark and ominous.

"This is for your own good, Loki." Odin finally addressed him, for the first time in years, and his ears perked up slightly.

"Mph," came the muffled reply. It was meant to be 'how'. How was this meant to be for his own good? First he was locked up in a cell that smelled of armpits, and now he was being fobbed off to the stupid Midgardians that may or may not chose to execute him. This was about as far from doing him any good as it could get.

The lead SUV pulled up in front of them, and a tall, dark agent stepped out, one eyed and dressed in leathers.

"Odin," He greeted, "Thor," he admonished, "real power."

"Am u," came the muffled reply. It was pretty obvious what he meant.

As other cars pulled up, more armored agents got out, three in total, and they all aimed pistols squarely at Loki, but he didn't shiver at all. He was still working on the assumption that he was a bargaining chip between the two worlds, so they would not dare kill him.

"Loki, Agent Rodriguez will be your custody officer," Fury began, "I thought it was only fitting to partner the Lord of Lies with the Human Lie-Detector," he mentioned to Thor, "we can lose the ball-gag."

The muzzle was removed and for a second his face was although he had been sucking on a lemon or something, but in fact he was chewing on the idea of this Human Lie-Detector. Charming.

"That would be Belial," he answered back bluntly, correcting Fury, "Human Lie-Detector, huh? I can't wait to meet him."

"Her," Fury corrected him again, and before you even think of charming under her radar, know that she was in New York two years ago, and wants to rip your lungs out about as much as anyone else under my command and your faux charm will do nothing to temper her."

"Sounds like great fun" he muttered. _I'm going to die._

After a while, the roar of a finely tuned engine and the throb of a radio slightly too loud rung through the air. The engine cut out and the driver's side door opened. A tall, dark skinned woman stepped from the car, dressed in jeans and calf-high boots with Cuban heels. She shrugged further into her brown leather jacket and readjusted her sunglasses. She looked different, even her car was different. She drove a boxy sedan, black and shiny. She grinned at him and approached her boss.

"Hi guys," she addressed them informally.

"Rodriguez, welcome to the party."

She took off her sunglasses and sized Loki up like a steak, "so, this is the spoiled brat that tried to take out the Big Apple?" she crossed her arms and cocked her head, "he looks more like the poster-boy for a BDSM sex shop than a mass murderer." Some of the other armed agents grinned and a few of them began to snicker, but Fury held up a forearm to quiet them.

"Looks can be deceiving," Loki sized her up too, looking almost like at the right time, he would turn around and eat her.

"That's true," she shrugged, "for one, you look nothing like Hannibal Lecher or the BFG," she said it so flatly and honestly, he had to force himself not to smile at her, "for one, you're way too short to be a giant, and according to your file, you aren't very friendly," she checked a manila folder in her hand and flipped it over, "but you've been hearing that all your life I bet, so let's get back to business, shall we?"

"I have authorized your house arrest until processing," Fury said to Loki. Legally he was supposed to inform the prisoner of all things regarding his detention.

"Great, let's go home."

"No, Frostbite," Rodriguez flicked through her folder and pulled out a file. She showed it to him. "this is the document we have that authorizes your detention, a SHIELD protective detail stationed both inside and outside a safe house," she flipped the paper back down, "my house."

Loki sighed again.

"Look, Princess, I don't like it either," she crossed her arms, "but let me lay down the ground rules," he arched an eyebrow at her, "rule one, no drinking my bourbon."

The corner of his mouth twitched into a thin smirk, "I prefer whiskey."

"Rule two; you pull your weight, which means you do your share of the washing, washing up, chores and such. I know you're used to princely behavior and summoning guards with a tin cup and shit, but you're doing your bit," she blinked a couple of times, "and if you make demands and break my glasses, I will break that pretty nose of yours, Boy."

"Understood," he said flatly, but he didn't really mean it.

"Rule three, under no condition or circumstance are you to talk to my eight year old daughter in the event that she does show up. You are not to be within ten feet of her, you are not to touch her, you are not to say one damn word to her."

"What if I break one or more of these rules?"

"If he gives you any trouble, you may kill him," Odin informed her.

"Thanks," Loki bit at his fake father.

Her bright green eyes suddenly became narrow and darkened, "oh, I will," she said darkly, facing Loki again, "slowly, intimately, in every way I know you fear," her lips quirked into a sinister scowl, "I will cause you so much pain, you would wish I had just held my Glock to the back of your head and pulled the trigger, but I will not kill you. No, not until you have suffered enough to satisfy every civilian, service-member and Marine that died in New York," she said it so icily.

Loki was stunned into silence. No one had ever spoken to him in such a way. He had definitely met his match.

She clapped his shoulder, "relax, Smurfington, I will give you four warnings before it comes to that," she said with a grin, " I don't really want to have to torture you, it's not my style."

"Why four?"

She drew her pistol from her hip, "that's how many ball-and-socket joints you have," she said with a grin.


	2. Chapter 2

She pushed him into the back of her car like a cop arresting a felon, shutting the door behind him. He was cuffed, but not gagged. She got into the car and began to drive off.

"Sorry about that." She said, pulling out onto the road, scanning the landscape in front of her.

"What?"

"I'm sorry about that," she repeated, "you have to put on a show for Fury. He's a little pretentious, I find, and seems to think that he's the only one that knows what he's doing," she sighed, turning up the radio, "he must have been in the Air Force. They all think they're better than the rest of us because their butts are further off the ground."

Loki's brow furrowed, and he decided to change the subject, "nice car."

"1968 was a good year for Chevrolet," she answered, "not so much for Hollywood, I mean, the Planet of the Apes sucks." She shrugged, still driving, perhaps faster than she should have by the speed in which the cacti were rushing past the back window. He watched behind him as a tornado engulfed Odin and Thor, taking them back home. He sighed; he never thought he could miss that five by nine cell. At least he did not have a babbling mortal for company.

"What do you mean?"

She laughed, glancing at him in the rear view mirror, "you're so adorable," she grinned, "like a little penguin. You're so cute when you don't understand."

"Cute?" he fumed, scowling. Rodriguez continued laughing, and Loki fumed. He was really going to hate this, "and do not cuss out movies that I like."

"I think you're confusing that second-rate piece of shit with something good."

"I am not confused."

"Are too."

"Are not." He snapped back, "and I refuse to take part in such a ridiculous argument."

She turned up the radio again, "I can't hear you, music's too loud!"

He recognized it, ACDC. The man with the super suit, Tony Stark, liked the same type of music. ACDC made him angry because it reminded him of New York, and having his cosmic ass kicked by a small group of pissed off humans, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.

He looked out as the desert whipping past and the yellow lines of the American highway, "of all the places Bifrost could transport to," he muttered, "a dessert, why a dessert?"

"Desert," Rodriguez corrected him, "it's pronounced 'desert'."

"That's what I said."

"No, you said 'dessert,' as in what you eat after dinner."

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did."

"Didn't."

"Did. Did. Did, and did."

"Fine," he scowled at her, "I know two thousand languages, please forgive me if I make a few mistakes with yours."

"My first language is Spanish."

He shrugged, "I hate you."

"No you don't," she said simply. That teased a tiny smile out of him. She drove silently, a small smile on her face, and he got the feeling that being detained by this woman may not be so bad after all.

"Perhaps you're confusing 'dessert' with being deserted," she offered.

"Now twist the knife counter-clockwise."

She stopped smiling, "want to listen to the radio?"

He shrugged. Right now he didn't care, "guess I can't stop you."

She flipped a switch and the song changed, though he didn't know how, or care, for that matter. He sighed again and sprawled out across the back seat of the car, it was leather and extremely comfortable. She turned the volume down, "tired?"

"Very," Loki answered her.

"Have a snooze," she offered, "but you scuff my leather and you're a dead man."

"Can I ask you a personal question, Agent Rodriguez?"

"Please, none of this 'agent' crap. Call me Bella," she bit at him with a shrug, "but about the question, I guess I can't stop you."

"Why did you join SHIELD?"

"That's not really a personal question," she shrugged again, "I was sent to New York because with the Afghanistan pull out, there were hardly any Marine units stateside," she smiled again, "I took down fifteen Chitauri assholes on the ground, and one of those ship-slugs with an RPG to the face. Fury recruited me after that."

He raised his eyebrows. They were hard to stop, and yet one single woman took down fifteen of the most powerful foot soldiers in the universe and an entire cruiser. Even he found himself in awe of her.

"I'm not asking how, I'm asking why."

She glanced into the rear view mirror at him, "the Corps gave me a dishonorable discharge. I went in against orders. It was either SHIELD or the street."


	3. Chapter 3

Washington DC wasn't too far from New York, and within twenty four hours of the so-called New York massacre, the President of the United States came to inspect the damage and to meet the Avengers that saved the town and the world from complete destruction, only to find that all the super heroes had parted their ways and the war criminal had been taken by the Asgardians, taken home so to speak.

Weeks later, a makeshift shrine had been made to commemorate those killed in the New York massacre, rivaling in size to the Twin Towers memorial, and the President had also put two million dollars aside to the construction of a more permanent memorial to those lost.

However a lot of folks left New York, finding that between PTSD and lost family and friends, they could no longer live there, and had swarmed into the country, or the next closest big city, Washington DC.

And that meant that he had to lie low, if anybody found out he was here, they would form some sort of lynch mob and go after him with shotguns and flaming torches, although Bella had insisted that things like that only happen in Texas.

She had also said that it was her duty and her job to protect him no matter how annoying or impulsive he was proving to be, and that he would look good in a Colombian Neck-tie. She had then proceeded to polish her sidearm and glare at him menacingly with a small smile on her face that seemed to dare him to do something stupid. And that was before they had gotten to DC.

She did drive much faster than she should, and overtook the other cars in the convoy, and sped well ahead of them to reach DC three days early. Granted she also took only ten minutes for lunch and ran mostly on drive-thru coffee, no wonder she got to the destination early. And Loki had developed a liking for steak sandwiches smothered in barbecue sauce.

She seemed to be the rebel agent. She dressed differently to the others, she spoke differently to the others; however she still had the chip on her shoulder that came with being a SHIELD agent and being able to carry a gun. She wasn't afraid of what she said, and she wasn't scared of the consequences. SHIELD must have been too scared of her to smack her into line, or afraid of the consequences, perhaps. But despite appearances, she seemed, to him anyway, to be one of their most brilliant.

"C'mon, Boss, what's the point of being a SHIELD agent if you can't drive really fast?" she began to pace around her large lounge room and Loki watched her from the couch, wondering when the floor would fall in. she was talking to Fury, and was not by any means impressed, and he got the feeling that they were very incompatible, which made him wonder why Fury had recruited her personally.

"Okay, we get to shoot bad guys, but that's only half of it," she rolled her eyes, "What could he do to me? Talk me to death? I hate to break it to you, Boss, but my guest's not really being a chatty Cathy" They were talking about him now, "he may be some ancient, mythical fucker, but he has no powers, I'm safe," she sighed, "so; I removed the shackles, fine. But he is hardly a danger now, is he?"

It seemed that for once, somebody was on his side, "I'm right here, you know," he smiled slightly; perhaps she would become a great friend of his one day. She was not afraid of him, or anything.

She covered the receiver, "shut it, you," she shook her head, "no, that was just Loki being annoying again, you know, he does that." She glanced at him, shaking her head.

"Yes, Boss," She said, "no Boss."

"Three bags full, Boss," Loki arched an eyebrow. She ran a finger across her throat, looking him in the eye.

"I do not have a readout of his mental state yet, but he has done nothing to prove to me that he is dangerous, at least not yet," she smiled, "so no need to send out the fellas in the fancy white coats yet. Yeah, I'll keep you updated. Later."

She tossed her phone on the coffee table and sat beside Loki on the couch. She sighed and leaned back, "what a tosser."

"Excuse me?"

"Fury's a tosser," Bella repeated. She grabbed the remote control for her television and switched it on, "he hates my guts because I keep calling him out. I think I only keep my job because the shit would hit the fan otherwise."

"What is the significance of shit hitting a 'fan'?"

She grinned at him again and pinched his cheek, "you're so adorable," he drew away from her although he had been burned, repulsed, "when the shit hits the fan, everybody near gets sprayed."

Loki nodded, understanding a little more, "and why would this happen if Nicholas was to terminate your employment?"

She smiled again, sadly this time, "I'm a war hero," she answered stiffly, "let me show you something."

She picked up a case on the table and opened it up. Inside was a little purple ribbon with a medal on the end.

"What is this?" he took the case from her hands and examined the medal. It sure looked important enough. He read the small card inside.

_Bella Rodriguez._

_I thank you for your bravery, since no one else will. I wish you to know that nobody blames you. It is my fault you were caught in that blast, and I will take full responsibility when it comes to the JAG inquest. I know you blame yourself, but don't. I am to blame._

_Captain John 'Willis' McLean._

She took the card from his hand and gave him a glare of ice; clearly he wasn't supposed to read it.

"I was injured in action six years ago, an IED blast in Helmut Province," she explained, "I was bomb disposal, so I should have seen it coming, but I didn't. Four good men lost their lives in that convoy, but not me," she mentioned to the medal, "that's called a Purple Heart. I got it for getting injured."

"I should not have asked," he said shyly.

She smiled wryly, "it was a long time ago," she closed the case and put it back on the table. She flicked the TV channels, from soaps to news, "Fury can't fire me because of the backlash he would get from the agency and the heat that mister Prez will give him."

He nodded, "I am sorry."

She looked directly at him for a moment, and smiled wryly, "your brother was right," she grinned at the look on his face, which was somewhere between shock and disbelief, "he assured me that you weren't a bad guy. I believe him, and I'm an idiot, I know."

He smiled. Thor still trusted him, after all he had done. It was almost touching, it was touching that he had attempted to appeal to his jailer.

_"__Next to come on Fox News, is the Destroyer really back on Earth?"_ the woman spat out the headline through some grid that looked like a rhino's but crack with nylon stitches in it, obviously reporting from some sort of state penitentiary.

_"__After a tip off from an unknown source, we recorded this film outside a small New Mexico town, the site of the Destroyer massacre in 2011."_

He arched an eyebrow and Bella sat up further to watch.

The footage was of the meet in the desert, of the six armored SHIELD cars and her own black sedan. She saw three blurry figures on the edge of the crater, and identified them as Thor, Odin and Loki, and the six cars encroached on them. A few minutes later, so did hers. They had captured the entire, supposedly clandestine meet. How on earth did they get past the security, and how did they know anyway?

She grabbed her phone out of her cap on the coffee table, and pressed one, speed-dialing Fury. It took a few seconds to get answered, "Boss, we have a problem."

_"__What problem, Rodriguez?"_

"Turn on the TV," she demanded.

There was a slight pause. Fury must have been doing what he had been told to do because there was the hiss of speakers and the same reporter's tinny voice.

_"__Damn."_

"Damn doesn't cut it," she shot back, "we have a leak, and if New Mexico has been compromised, how many of our other operations have been as well."

_"__Can you handle the detail?"_

"Of course I can handle the detail," Bella shook her head and groaned, "as long as you whitewash the media and stop the crackpots from getting up on top of the Empire State with a Barrett."


	4. Chapter 4

DAY TWO

When Bella managed to drag herself out of bed in the morning, the two SHIELD guards had been swapped out with their replacements and were in their positions, listening to a baseball game on the radio.

"Movement?" she asked the one stationed at the front door, Lorne.

"Nah," he replied, "your new housemate woke up at around five thirty and asked for breakfast though," there was a half-smile on his face.

"Really?" she rubbed her eyes.

"More of demanded on pain of death," Lorne shrugged, "I'm surprised you weren't woken up," he grinned at her, "he wasn't very polite. In the end I came in and got him a bowl of Cornflakes. Other than that, situation normal."

She frowned, "good work, Lorne."

She trudged into the lounge. She had a spare room, a third bedroom apart from hers and her daughter's rooms; she had parked Loki in there, and gave him some of her more neutral clothes to wear.

She had torched the shit that her husband had left there when they divorced. It was a rough divorce; hence the bonfire, and she and Coulson had toasted marshmallows and drank beer in her backyard the day the paperwork went through.

She was still tired, and annoyed, and so a good dose of morning broadcast television would cheer her right the fuck up.

"Good morning," came the chipper greeting, Loki was in her family den. He was sitting on the floor, books spread out around him, twenty or more, some fiction, some non-fiction and some were biographies.

"There are birds singing, fuckers on the street honking their horns, and a giant bright ball of bright shit in the sky, and they're all saying 'welcome to another miserable day, fuck you'," she yawned and threw herself down on the lounge, "what's good about it?"

He looked up at her innocently, like a little kid, and for a second, he was so adorable and she just wanted to hug him. She wanted to carry him around in her pocket and feed him nachos.

"You're not a morning person, are you?"

"No, I'm not," Bella snapped, "Especially not when some _alien _is tearing apart my house and I feel like a leper's ass smells," she turned on the TV again. Good Morning America was on. With any luck, she could fall back to sleep. "What are you doing anyway?"

"Reading," he replied simply.

"Why can't you read one book at a time like normal people?"

"I get bored easily."

She glanced at one of the books on the coffee table, "Shakespeare, no wonder."

He smiled wryly, glancing at the screen, "you watch that?"

"Even if my eyes weren't too blurry to read at this hour, all my books are already taken."

"It's ten thirty."

She yawned, "I haven't slept for days," she told him honestly, "I run on caffeine. My fuel reserves are a little low." She watched the screen for a few more moments. The head of the FBI announcing that the footage of the so-called Destroyer was basically an unmitigated fabrication, but by now it was all over the news and people were already creating conspiracy theories. Hardly anyone believed in the FBI cover story of an old Soviet footage, because a mechanic identified the make and models of the SUV's. Whitewashing the media seemed to be a waste of time.

Loki scoffed at her and looked back down at the book, "damn mortals."

"You think you're better that me," Bella faced him, her gaze cut into him like a knife.

"Correction," Loki held up a hand, "I _know_ I'm better than you."

"Frosty the Snow Giant," she laughed, "I wonder if you'll still think that way when I'm feeding you your teeth."


	5. Chapter 5

She hated him, that was clear, and what was also clear was that she was lying to him. Lies, lies and more lies, it seemed to be his entire life, and why in the hell was she revealing all sorts of highly irrelevant personal information to him? This rat smelled a rat.

Bella was cooking; something, some sort of human delicacy, with a towel over her left shoulder and shadows were playing in the corners of his eyes. They were SHIELD agents, armed SHIELD agents. After a while he probably wouldn't notice them, which was a little more frightening.

"What do you want, Loki?" She snapped, wiping her hands on the towel. He wasn't even that close to her, and that was a little shocking. Either she was far better than he thought or his own skills were slipping

"To know why you have been lying to me," he countered, standing behind her stoically.

She turned, "and what's my motivation again?" she bit back sarcastically, dropping the spoon back into the saucepan.

"Why are you telling me so much about yourself, if not to lull me into a false sense of security?"

"Who says it's false?" Bella quipped.

"Stop lying to me!" he shouted at her. He tried to summon up a fireball in his hand, he was just so angry, but no spark came. Then he tried a little ice, and his hand didn't even get slightly cold. His mood only became worse.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you," Bella turned back to her cooking, "Odin had you neutered," she tapped her earpiece, "yo, stand down, Bird."

And that was when he noticed a sniper positioned on the alternate rooftop with a composite bow made of carbon fiber, dressed entirely in black.

"So, you were ready to pick me off," he sneered, "how very _human _of you." She scowled but otherwise said nothing.

"Are you trying to make me feel guilty?" she asked, her voice was completely flat and honest, "because if you are, it will never work."

"Why are you lying to me?" he demanded to know again.

She never faced him, "It must be hard, to be the Devil," she sighed, "to know nothing but lies. No truth ever gets through, and so you do not know how to recognize it."

"What?"

She turned to face him again, "what I told you about New York, and my Purple Heart, that wasn't a lie," she sighed, "I'm going out on a limb, trusting you. Do you know why? It is because _I_ need someone to talk to about it," she looked him in the eye for a second, "you haven't noticed how freaking mental I am? I act like a kid one minute and then I act like me again. Sure, I was over exaggerating the other day about Fury, but that was just my way of trying to say . . . something, I dunno." She spread her arms self-importantly, "We've gotta learn to trust each other, or one of these armed guys may end up shooting you in the face, and I will be responsible for that. It could start a war."

"Good," he said bluntly.

"No! I could just smack you," she tossed the towel to the floor, "when will you get it through your thick head that I am trying my best to help you? You're the dumbest smart person I have ever met! Sit down," she demanded.

"Not until I know-."

"You can't handle the truth!" she bit at him, "now sit down before I shoot you myself." The fiery glaze of her eyes told him he had better do it, and so he sat at the kitchen table in stunned silence.

She gave him a bowl of the soup she had prepared, "I'm trusting you, Loki. There are only a few people that know why I joined SHIELD, and only a few people I have ever shown that damn medal to. I trust you not to go ape shit and kill me. Trust me back."

"So says the woman surrounded by armed guards," he replied cynically.

"Who called off the Bird?" she asked, an eyebrow arched.

"If you really do trust me, why am I always stuck _here_?" Loki asked, a note of skepticism in his voice, "Could I go outside once in a while?"

"Eat your food," Bella sighed, "I'll think about it . . ."


	6. Chapter 6

DAY 7: 1332 HOURS

This would be the first of many weekly visits that Thor, the god of thunder would make to this suburban DC townhouse. He had asked Isabella of Detroit to look after his younger brother, and to teach him some Midgard ways, to grow accustomed to them, and to the gravity of his crimes against them. However the one thing he wanted was for Loki to heal, and to eventually come home, as the man he used to be.

He rang the doorbell casually, and a few seconds later, the door was answered by a rather casually dressed Latino woman with black curls, "Lady Isabella," he greeted her warmly.

"Thundera," she teased, "Thor, buddy, come in."

And their path was stopped by Loki, "and when were you planning to tell me this?" he shot at Bella.

"I'm telling you now," Bella snapped back, "you're forgetting, kiddo; you're still my prisoner. I don't have to tell you a damn thing, especially when it equates to inter-realm politics."

"And that raving about trust meant nothing?" Loki bit back, "you're just like . . ."

"Him?" she mentioned to Thor, "Odin? Don't you even dare, you little shit. Get back in front of the fire and watch TV."

"You are a hypocrite," he walked away from her, climbing back up the stairs.

"That's one strike!" She grabbed a pillow off the small chair in the entrance hall and threw it at him. It missed.

"Is he always like this now?" Thor asked.

"Just as long as I've known him," Bella sighed, "he's been accusing me of lying to him lately. I think he's paranoid," she shrugged, "I haven't gotten anything out of him yet, all I know is that he's very cranky and rarely sleeps." She led him into the lounge, where she offered him a seat.

"Fury told me you were good with matters of the mind."

"I'm not even trained for this," Bella rolled her eyes, "the only way I think I can get him to tell me is if I tie him down and beat it out." Thor looked like he was deep in thought for a moment. "Stop if it starts to hurt," she narrowed her eyes at him.

"You sound like Loki," Thor noted, "I was going to suggest a visit to the tombs of his victims."

Bella grinned at Thor, and clapped him on the shoulder, "that is so simple, so elegant . . . why didn't I think about it?"

Thor smiled.


	7. Chapter 7

DAY 9: 0930 HOURS

The doorbell rang, "I'll get it," Loki grabbed the door, only to look out on a bespectacled scientist he knew as Bruce Banner, and he carried a couple of bags filled with Chinese food, "I had no idea you made house calls, Doctor."

"Shut up and let me in," Bruce bit at him.

He stepped aside, "you know, my back has never been the same," he opened the door a little wider, "I assume in your profession, you would possess the telephone number of a good chiropractor."

"Boo hoo," he pushed passed him with the bags, "I brought you dinner."

He pulled a bit of a face, "thanks," he shut the door behind Bruce so the warm wouldn't escape. He mentioned to the kitchen, then checked his borrowed watch, "excuse me, there is something I must do." He walked up the stairs and Bruce's gaze followed him. He walked past Bella as she went the other way.

"He's in a hurry," Bruce said to her, "planning to test his ACME escape kit tonight?"

She smiled as she reached the bottom of the stairs, "nah," she took the bags off his hands, "I let him use my computer. The internet bill's gonna be through the roof."

Bruce's eyes widened, "really?"

Bella grinned, "So, has Fury made a decision about my proposal?"

"He wants a squad of plain-clothed agents," Bruce told her, "stationed around the perimeter. He wants a couple of other guys to tail you, and he wants me to join you."

Bella's brow furrowed, "that sounds fair."

"I'm not sure if crazy will appreciate it," Bruce scowled.

"He was the one that wanted to get out."

This was across the road, a few blocks from Stark Tower in Midtown, Manhattan Island, New York, where a large nineteenth century building once stood. Much like for the World Trade towers in 2001, the New Yorkers did not rebuild the building, but built something else on its foundations, a large mirrored shrine inscribed with the names of the four thousand and twenty seven dead. There were deliberate grid-like gaps in the polished granite, and many had squeezed flowers and letters into the cracks. It dominated his sight as a tall perplexing black wall.

He wanted to leave the house, and so they took him here, a shrine to the people he had killed, and while he scorned Bella, in the back of his mind, he knew that this was the only place they would consider taking him, to try to make him realize the wrong. SHIELD guards were posted around the perimeter; however no one seemed to notice, except him. One wrong move and he was dead. One of those guards would be his judge, jury and executioner.

He made a point to approach it alone, independently, and as the massive mirrored wall loomed above him, his knees went weak. All of a sudden, the inscribed wall seemed a million feet high. He read the names, trying to get the sinking feeling out of the bottom of his gut, but saw his own dark eyes staring back at him. Something struck him deep inside, and he didn't know what it was. All he knew was that he suddenly felt sick.

"I'll never get used to this place," he didn't even notice Bella sneak up behind him, "you search for a name, but find your own reflection," she approached, "you are among the fallen."

He said nothing, he didn't think he could, and he had no words to use even if he could. At the moment, all there was in the universe was him and this dark, ominous wall. What was worse was that he remembered everything. As he read each name on the wall, he saw a face, terrified.

_You are among the fallen_.

His knees gave way, and he knelt at the shrine, bowing. He began to cry. And at that moment, Loki decided he hated and feared everything he was.

"I know," Bruce said, "If I see one more 'We Remember' sticker on the back of a pickup truck, I'll start breaking things."

He sat in the back of the SHIELD sedan, silent. He was never silent.

"Hey, do you want to drive for a bit?"

"Not really," Bruce said.

"Loki," Bella said, "want to drive?"

Loki looked up at her with self-destructive look in his eyes, "never have you said that to me."

Bella sighed, "Just thought you might want to drive for a bit, excuse me."

"I am fine."

"That's debatable," Bruce quipped.

Loki glared at him dangerously for a minute, but then his gaze softened as he sank deeper and deeper into thought.


	8. Chapter 8

DAY 10: 1700 HOURS

She heated up her TV dinner in the microwave; Loki was already picking at his, confused on exactly why a TV dinner was considered a delicacy on Earth. She may have told a little white lie, and by the look on his face, he could tell.

She never let him out of her sight, and while she slept, she had Steve Rodgers, AKA Captain America, watch him for her. Not to mention the countless security cameras she had installed about two weeks before.

_"__Speedy Gonzalez," _came the tinny voice out of her radio she tapped her earpiece.

"Yeah, Cap, go ahead," she offered.

_"__Chicken Hawk's at checkpoint one."_

"Let her in," Bella ordered.

_"__She has not been cleared," _he reminded her. She sighed.

"Look here, you overpaid American wanker, you let my daughter in here or I clear you off the face of the planet, super soldier or no," Loki looked up at her from his perch on the leather lounge, sensing trouble. He remembered a man that they called 'Cap', Captain America, who dressed in tights and looked although he was wearing a costume for a version of All Hallows Eve run by the San Francisco Mardi-Gra committee.

"You," she looked directly at Loki, "behave."

He shrugged, "you're the boss."

"Damn right."

A few seconds later, a young one entered the building, dressed in jeans and boots, a baseball jersey around her shoulders. This was her daughter. She was a beautiful child, with black hair and dark olive skin like her mother, but bright blue eyes. She seemed to force a smile out of herself as she entered.

"Hi, Mom," she said.

"I thought you were spending a couple of weeks with your dad," Bella said, confused.

"I was," said the young girl, "however what _father _forgot to tell you was that he had a prior arrangement sorted out with a roulette table at the Silver and Gold casino and a dancer by the name of Misty Blue," the sass was strong in this family, "at least I hope it was a dancer."

Bella sighed, "Sophia . . ."

"Yes, I saw the news," Sophia replied immediately, "is he your detail?" she glanced into the lounge and smiled at Loki, "is that really the Destroyer? I bet it is."

Loki avoided eye contact.

Bella didn't show anything, "I don't want you talking to him, Honey."

"But I have questions," Sophia whined.

"Tough," but then she appraised her daughter, "how did you get here from Virginia?"

"I put my ass on a bus."

"What?" Bella snapped.

"I'm too young to fly by myself," Sophia shrugged, getting in from the cold and shutting the door, shuffling into the lounge to stand in front of the open fire.

"That's it. Daniel's pushed me far enough!" she looked like she was going to explode, and not in the good way either, "I am calling your father," she addressed Sophia then, "you," she turned her attention to Loki, and tossed him her phone, "call Fury."

Loki picked it up and analysed it for a moment before figuring out how to operate it as Bella practically punched a number into the hard line phone in the hall. Loki searched for the name Fury in the phone book, and Sophia just smiled at him. He dialed, choosing to ignore her.

After a couple of rings, it was answered. So was Bella's.

_"__What is it Rodriguez?"_

"Guess again," Loki said simply.

"You inconsiderate jerk!" she shouted through the receiver, "She could have died! She's only a kid. Do you have any idea what could have happened to her?"

_"__Loki!"_ Fury practically shouted.

"Not in danger, huh? Try murderers, try any number of my enemies, not to forget all the loan sharks on your ass," Bella continued shouting, "I'll kill you, you hear? If anything happens to her on your watch, I'll feed your balls down the garbage disposal while they're still attached, got it?"

"I am calling as a courtesy," Loki said, "to inform you that my keeper is on the telephone, threatening justifiable homicide, and we have a guest," he glanced at the young girl, "Chicken Hawk is here, and that little detail may cause you to seriously rethink the positioning and strategy of your protection detail. I also need somebody to come over and change my water."

Sophia chuckled behind her hand, and Loki smiled.

_"__I will take that under advisement," _Fury bit at him and hung up.

"I'd tell you to go to hell, but I wouldn't want to ruin the neighborhood for when I move in!"

The dial tone squeaked in his ear before he hung up himself, "adieu."

"Yeah, you'll see me very soon, dirt bag," Bella held a hand to her hip, "in court." She slammed the phone down so hard on the cradle; he swore the ground shook for a moment.

Her face was red as she entered the lounge, and she held her daughter close for a long time.

"Mom," Sophia sighed, "you didn't have to do that. I'm here, I'm home. No muss, no fuss."

"No muss, no fuss?" she asked, "you could have died. You don't know just how dangerous it can be, I do," she sighed, "I can't lose you, baby."

Sophia sighed, "Mom, you have to lighten up," Loki looked between the two, "I understand you want to protect me, but what you worry about isn't going to happen," Sophia continued, keeping her voice completely blank, "every day, cops are going to shoot me, bums are going to rob me, the assholes that _father_ owes money too are all going to kidnap me and demand ransom, and the whole world is just going to fall right into the fucking sun. But it hasn't happened yet. No matter what you or anyone else says, there is no need to be afraid every second of every day. I can look after myself."

"Sophia, Honey, I don't think you understand how dangerous it is. There's a bigger picture."

"There's always a bigger picture, isn't there?" Sophia yelled back, "there's always something I'm not old enough to understand. But I _do _understand, Mom. You're like the misery chick with supercharged PMS, since Dad sucks, you're trying to be both parents, and you're driving me up the wall!" she sighed exasperatedly.

"Go to your room," Bella shouted.

"Mom . . ."

"Now, Soph," she ordered, "we don't have to have this fight again."

"Apparently we do, because you don't get it."

"Go. To. Your. Room!" Bella ordered.

Loki looked up as the small girl left, marching up the stairs like she was walking towards the executioner's block.

Bella turned, "what are you looking at?"

"Nothing," he squeaked. He didn't want to be caught in the middle of this, but subconsciously, he thought of his 'parents'.

_Apparently no matter what style parents you have, they will inevitably drive you mad._


	9. Chapter 9

DAY 11 (SUNDAY): 1300 HOURS

She had allowed Sophia to go out with friends, but he saw her mother as she slipped an RFID chip into her backpack, to keep her tracked. Sophia was right, she was overprotective, but it was not his place to say. Usually things like that had no meaning to him, the fact that he was beginning to worry about these things was mildly concerning.

_Rule three, under no_ _condition or circumstance are you to talk to my eight year old daughter . . ._

That didn't bother him. He never liked kids, even when he was a kid. But what did annoy him was all of this happening after her raving and ranting about trust. She may have been able to see through the lies of those around her, but that little talent of hers did not enable her to lie efficiently.

"Lunch?" she asked.

"I am feeling a little peckish," Loki answered.

"What would you like?" Bella asked, "I don't feel like cooking. Takeout?"

"Of what volition?"

She smiled. Bella had to admit that she liked his eloquence and way with words, "Chinese?" she offered. He shook his head, "Thai?"

"No, too spicy," Loki shuddered. He had spent a little time in Thailand over the last few centuries, mainly because he needed to get away from his quote unquote family. All he learned was that he had no stomach for spicy food.

"How about pizza?"

He smiled at her, "pizza sounds great."

"Good."

"Pizza," he rolled the word around in his mouth, "what does it mean?"

Bella laughed, "it is such a wonderful feeling when you know you're about to change somebody's life forever."

There was a dark sedan parked across the road, and somebody in it held binoculars up to her eyes. He looked up onto the opposite building and which was taller than the townhouse. He saw a dark figure crouched atop a windowsill. Hawkeye may have changed his position slightly, and was all but invisible to most others, he still noticed the man.

"Damn it," Bella whispered, "I'll be back in a second," she said, "don't light any fires."

He watched as Bella crossed the multi-lane road outside the townhouse in her electric blue pants and her SHIELD jacket, and she went up to rendezvous with the person in the car. She banged on the roof.

"Are you and the Hawk going to just peep at us, or are you going to come inside for lunch?"

The last time he had seen Hawkeye was when he was still controlling the young sniper with the Sceptre, and the last time he had seen the Black Widow, Romanov, was when he was shooting at her from the back of a flying jet ski. Needless to say they had not parted on the best of terms.

And what made him nervous right now was Hawkeye- Clint Barton - was staring at him from over the box of deep-pan pizza like he was about to leap over the table and pound him into the dirt. Loki tried to avoid eye contact with the man, but his gaze was withering, and he wanted a slice of pizza but was worried that his old adversary would whip out a machete and take his hand for recompense of his actions.

Natasha Romanov and Bella talked shop, comparing their side arms and the type of rounds they used in them. He caught Romanov taking sneaky glances at Loki although he was about to disappear into a puff of smoke.

He reached out for some pizza and he watched as Hawkeye visibly tensed. He grabbed the slice and drew back.

"You shouldn't let him have free reign," Clint told Bella without breaking eye contact.

"He's mostly harmless," Bella told Hawk.

"It's the 'mostly' that bothers me," Natasha said, deadpan.

Loki sighed into his pizza, "don't look at me like that," he whispered, "please."

Hawkeye didn't say a word. Natasha muttered something to him and a thin smile played across his lips. Loki only sunk lower and took a tiny bite of pizza.

"Stop it, you lot," Bella chided, "just hold hands and sing Kumbia already."

"Do you know what it's like?" He didn't break eye contact with Loki. If nothing else, the Hawk was persistent.

He didn't choose to dignify that with a response, instead opting to his fail-safe position, eating pizza. Bella saw him tense and patted his shoulder comfortingly as he sat stoically in the neon pink turtleneck sweater that he had borrowed from her when the cold snap had began. Without his powers, he suddenly became very susceptible to the cold.

"Cool the beans, Rambo," Bella warned, "my detail, my rules, my pizza."

Hawkeye was silenced, and he continued his brooding stare. Loki took another bite of his pizza.

"You're protecting a man not worthy of protection," he informed her stoically, "let him burn." The silence didn't last long, and Loki sighed into his pizza again.

"Clint . . ." Natasha started, but then she trailed off, "don't lose your cool. We are here to observe, not shoot."

He either wasn't listening or he simply didn't care, "you killed thousands of people," he looked Loki in the eye, "do the world a favour and die," he sneered, "I'll be happy to pull the trigger."

"Barton, that's enough," Bella roared, "I am following my orders, not just from Fury, but from Thor," Loki's head perked up slightly.

"Clint's right," Natasha finally picked a side; "it doesn't change what he did."

"I don't give a flying shit. What's past is past," Bella got up from her seat, "get the fuck out of my house before I throw you out."

"Your friends died in Midtown too," Barton reminded her.

"I'm a Marine, Bird; I follow orders," she bit at him, "and if you don't like them, take it up with the management, and with all the shit you've done recently . . ."

"How is this now about me?"

Loki stood and grabbed another slice of pizza. For a moment everybody looked at him, "as an answer to your first question, Clint Barton, yes," he turned and marched up the stairs, heading for the balcony. They were all silent for a long time until Bella whacked Barton across the back of the head.

There was an awkward silence and Bella sat stoically for a second, thinking about what Loki had just said, "son of a bitch," she glanced at the others, "don't follow me."


	10. Chapter 10

He stared down onto the street, watching cars, merely metal and glass boxes rushing past. There were crowds down below, and even though it was a quiet part of Washington, it was too noisy for his liking. He leaned further over the cast iron railing. He hated heights, but right now he was wondering if he would die if he leaped two stories. He elected against it, knowing that things never went his way, even in his short stint as king.

"What do you mean, following orders from Thor?"

Bella approached him carefully. Nobody could sneak up on her either, and she smiled, "during the negotiations, he pulled me aside and asked me to do whatever was in my power to help you."

Loki stared at the cracked, stained concrete fifteen feet below him and smiled humorlessly, "did Thor really say that, or are you just trying to comfort me with hollow words?" he smiled wryly, "again."

"Do I have a reason to lie to you?" Bella arched an eyebrow, "from now on, I will be nothing but honest with you."

He sighed, she was right. He hated it when somebody else was right because that meant that he was wrong, and that just added to the big pile of wrong that was already in his life.

"Actually his words were more along the lines of 'I dream of the day that my brother can return home, free from the evil of the past' or some shit," Bella shrugged, taking a perch by his side, "he actually convinced Odin to spare your life. I know, I was there."

Loki smiled, "Thor's bassist sentimentality will be the end of him," that was when she slapped him across the back of the head, the way she had slapped Hawkeye and all of her Marines at least one stage, "there was once a time I could have you executed for that."

"Don't talk that way about the man that got your stupid ass off Death Row, and especially not when he's your big brother," Bella snapped at him. He pulled his head closer towards his shoulders, expecting another whack on the head, "I would kill for a brother like Thor. He's a good man."

"Thor is not my brother," Loki sighed.

"For the love of Jesus and puppies," she sighed too, "nothing gets through to you, does it?" she grabbed his shoulder with her left hand, her bright green eyes bored into his as he looked up to face her, "Family's one of those funny words," she smiled humorlessly, "it's not your blood, although people think it is, and it's not the sadistic bastard that adopted you in your case."

"Then what is it?" Loki asked her, his eyes moistening. He sounded pathetic even to himself.

She smiled, warmly this time, "family are the people who love you," she put a hand over his heart, "and who you love. That is all that really matters;" she smiled again, "Thor loves you. You're his baby brother. He takes one look at what you have become and he beats his brains out because he couldn't protect you," she rubbed his shoulder comfortingly, "and he wants answers, he wants to help you, but he doesn't know how. So he found someone that did. You are his brother," she paused for a moment, "and I know somewhere in that heart of yours, you love him too."

Loki stared back down at the concrete, "Perhaps," he muttered. Bella gave him a stern look, "alright, you are correct in your assertion."

Bella shrugged, "down here, we call that lack of faith in yourself and those closest to you a midlife crisis," she smiled, "some people buy flashy and expensive cars, some become homicidal and potentially dangerous bastards."

"Thanks."

"All I'm trying to say is that losing yourself like this in insecurity, jealousy and rage is entirely normal, and is often an essential part of growth," she put her arm across his shoulders, "you just went a bit over the line," he glared at her for a long time, "okay, more than a bit," he continued glaring, "okay, the line was in Idaho, and you ended up in red China, but the point still stands."

"You have no idea. . ." he trailed off.

"Explain it to me," he cast her a withering glance, "or we could go back downstairs and eat some more pizza."

"I would prefer _them_ not to be here."

"The Spider and the Bird?" she grinned. Much to her surprise, and to his, they both began to laugh, "I'll tell them to shove off. For future reference, if the Bird gives you grief, hold up a mirror so he sees his reflection. He'll think there's another parrot there for him to play with and he'll forget all about you." He looked at her almost as if she were serious for a moment, "I'm kidding."

Loki laughed, and as he held up his slice of pizza to take a bite, she took a large bite out of the other end he tried his best to act angry, but Bella just laughed. She guided him back down the stairs.

What neither of them saw was a pair of dark eyes watching them. Fury had to know about this.


	11. Chapter 11

Bella told him that this afternoon, they were going to put trust into action, and she was going to make him take some driving lessons.

"It's useless for me to waste money on you if you can't even take my uniform to the dry-cleaners," she told him as they got in the car, and Loki scowled in retaliation. He shut the door, and then glanced around at the controls.

"Cars used to look different," Loki said stiffly, "and what are these for?" he mentioned to the wiper controls, and Bella grinned. Yes, it had been a long time since he had driven, over a hundred years in fact. It took him a few moments to equate himself to the controls. Bella pointed all the pedals out to him before she even let him start the car.

It probably wouldn't be much of a big deal, but this was a trust exercise, and so Loki was behind the reigns of Bella's 1968 5.7 liter V8 Chevrolet Impala four door sedan. And because of that, Bella's hand was lingering by the handbrake, and she was ready to rip the wheel out of his grasp at any moment.

"Okay, go into reverse," she instructed, "don't forget the clutch."

"I am not a simpleton," Loki bit back.

"This car is a classic," Bella replied, "okay, now keep an eye out the back windshield as you reverse," he did as he was told and he reversed slowly, "Okay, less brake and more throttle," he did as he was told once again.

"I'm sure I used to know all this stuff," he breathed as he reversed the large car out of the driveway. He curved it around so that he could move in one fluid motion.

"Clutch in, first gear," she instructed once they had turned far enough onto the street, "right side of the road!" she ordered as he began to drive. Fortunately there was no one on the road, which was a little strange, he corrected himself quickly, "it's not England".

"I learned to drive in England," he said absently.

"What in?"

"Model T Ford," he replied, "all the pedals were around a different way."

She arched an eyebrow, "I wouldn't let you anywhere near a car that old."

"I learned in 1912."

"No wonder your driving skills are a little rusty," Bella replied, "what do you do? Pilates?" she received a cutting glare, "How old are you?"

"One thousand and forty seven years old, give or take a few months," he replied flatly. It was not uncommon for adopted children on this planet not to know their birthdays, and for him, his birth would have been marked the day he had been taken to Asgard.

"Looking good for it."

"I moisturize."

A SHIELD sedan followed them to Carla Smyth's house, Sophia De Martino's best friend, and Loki parked right in front while the other agent parked across the street a few houses back. Bella got out of the car and checked his parallel park, "good," she told him, "driving is just like riding a bike."

Loki smiled, but said nothing, keying the ignition and letting his hands relax on the steering wheel. He hadn't realised how much he was trembling until now, or how tight his hands were around the wheel.

"Well, that was surprisingly good," she smiled and leaned back in the passenger seat, sighing in relief.

He watched as Sophia hugged her friend by the door of the house as the sun set, and she rushed down to the Impala. When she saw that both the front seats were occupied, she slid into the back with a careful glare at Loki.

"Where did you learn to drive?"

"London, 1912," he said, "I drove a Model T."

"Can I ask a favor?"

"Loki of Asgard at your service, young lady."

Bella laughed at the hilarity of the situation. Loki glanced at her as he turned the car right around and drove back the way he came, flashing the headlight at the SHIELD sedan, indicating for them to follow him.

"I have an assignment for school," Sophia explained, "I have to make this poster on a mythological person, creature or place."

"Yes."

"Can I do my assignment on you?"

Bella patted his shoulder, "remember rule three?"

Loki didn't know what to say for a minute, "I am honored that you would choose me for such an important endeavor," he said grandly, "but I do not think your mother would approve."


	12. Chapter 12

Bella was out. A security breach had been reported by the back gate, and it was her job to check the perimeter, and he read a book, one he had attempted to read many times but had never quite gotten through it, War and Peace. Over the last few years, he had started reading the book seven times and hadn't s got past page forty two.

Steve Rodgers sat at the opposite end of the room in his check shirt and jeans, looking too clean cut, except for the pistol on his hip. He stared broodingly at him, ready to shoot if necessary. It was strange, but he tended to ignore the armed gunmen now.

He was alerted as the couch next to him went down beside him, and he glanced over to see Sophia De Martino curl up next to him with a large book.

"Good evening, Chicken Hawk," Steve used her call sign, "how was school?"

"What is 1940's for 'sucked'?" Sophia questioned. Loki smiled, but he chose not to get engaged. There was no telling what would happen to him if he broke rule three, all he knew was that his bodyguard was very protective of her daughter, and he felt a pang of jealousy whenever the subject was brought up.

"In my time, we would have just said 'terrible'."

Loki tried to ignore them.

"Hi, Loki," Sophia said to him.

"I'm not supposed to talk to you," he flicked another page, "if you have a problem, take it up with your mother."

"Mom doesn't want me talking to anyone," Sophia huffed, she is so overprotective. If it were up to her I would be locked in the basement until I'm twenty five."

"Your mother is trying to do the best for you," he told the young girl plainly, "of course; you must remember that she has never had an eight year old daughter before. You should not be so judgmental." Yes, he knew that it was hypocritical of him to say that to her, as he was about as judgmental as they came, "her methods may be faulty, but she is doing the best she can."

Sophia sighed, "Okay. . ." she shook her head, "I won't tell her if you don't."

He glanced at Steve, who shrugged, "for not talking, you are sure doing an awful lot of talking."

"Agreed," he said with a grin, "what do you wish to know?"

"Sleipnir," she said automatically and Loki looked directly at her, "and your role in the fortification of Asgard," she handed over the book. It was bookmarked where she had read with a piece of string, and he read the myth that was written down, slowly filling with shock.

"This is not only wrong, but it is disgusting," he pulled a face, "who wrote this?"

"Nameless Christian priest," Sophia shrugged, "I always thought they made you look like a weirdo to make the Christian god look good. It's an adult vocabulary way of saying 'you suck and I rule'."

Loki looked at her. She was wise beyond her few years. Perhaps humans were not as stupid as he had first thought either that or mother and daughter were the exceptions other than the rules, "what really happened?"

"The fortification of Asgard happened long before my birth," he told her truthfully, his voice a little higher than usual, "Sleipnir exists, however not as they say."

Sophia grinned and perked up, "this is gonna be great."

"Mother taught me everything I know of magic," he told her, "as well as the dangers. She told me that to create life out of nothing, there would be severe consequences. I listened to her, however so did Thor," he smiled sadly, "and so at the next feast, marking Thor's sixteenth birthday, he waited until I was sufficiently . . . into the festivities. . ."

"As in hammered," she grinned at him, "this is going to be good."

"He dared me to make an animal," Loki answered, "and I, being as you humans say, 'hammered', agreed. I gave him eight legs so he would go twice as fast, but he was originally electric blue, not grey. he sort of faded out over the centuries."

Sophia laughed, "Electric blue horses. This is getting better and better."

"When Mother found out, she went ballistic, and for the first time in his life, Thor got in trouble."

"What about these dire consequences?"

"I went through a phantom pregnancy and labor," he said as flatly as he could. Sophia began to laugh. Loki went a delicate shade of pink, "it's not funny. It's not."

Steve didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he chose to remain neutral, and silent. He was well ready to jump in when he was needed. But then his face split in a slight grin, the one you get when you know you shouldn't find something amusing but do.

"Sif's hair," she asked, changing the subject, flicking a few pages.

"Cut it, died it, did a good job. One of your modern hairdressers would be proud."

"Idun?"

"I did save her," he said defensively.

"Sure," Sophia shrugged, "after you tricked her, got her kidnapped and got threatened with torture then death," she grinned.

"Alright, kick the bleachers out from under me."

"Does that mean you really did tie your balls to a goat?"

"I can't tell you that," Loki told her stiffly, but then he smiled a small, sneaky smile.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"If you really must know, I was saving that act for a special occasion."

Sophia nearly fell over in uncontrollable laughter, thankfully she was sitting. Loki laughed too, laughter was contagious. And then she stopped and became deadly serious, giving him a far more youthful form of her mother's stern glare.

"You seem like a pretty cool guy," she told him, "what on Earth made you go 'death to all humans' crazy?"

He sighed, "I don't know," he admitted to her, "a mixture of things, I think."

Sophia nodded, "awkward, but I'm listening."

"I don't want to talk about it."

And neither of them noticed Steve take a small glance at a dark figure in the unlit hall. He nodded to her, and the figure just continued staring for a moment then nodded back.


	13. Chapter 13

DAY 12: 0138 HOURS

She was awoken by uncontrolled screaming and Sophie yelling for her. She shot out of bed wearing an oversize tee shirt emblazoned with USMC and the bird, ball and chain.

"Mom! Mom! It's Loki!"

Great, the first time Loki had actually slept in over a week instead of connecting the X-Box to the TV and playing Diablo 3 all night, chewing up her bandwidth and making her electricity bill skyrocket, he wakes up screaming. Just her luck . . .

She burst into the spare room, only to see the young man thrashing and shaking uncontrollably, screaming in a language shockingly similar to Old Norse. She put her earpiece in, "Cap, get me the Big Cheese."

She grabbed her shoulders and shook him, not that he noticed. He couldn't wake up. Shit, this was worse than she had thought, and she was going to kill Thor for telling her otherwise, and since he was immortal, she could kill him again.

"Brother! Father! Where are you? Help me!" Sophie translated under her breath.

"Can you hear me, Buddy?" she almost shouted at him.

His eyes shot open, faster than she had suspected, and he hit her square in the jaw, forcing her back for a second. He seemed that though he was awake, he was still stuck in a nightmare. It had happened to her a few times, but never this bad . . .

"Get away from me, foul sub-creature," he demanded. Was it her imagination or through his anger and rage, there was a note of fear? "I will not be hurt again. No more."

She didn't understand, but she forced him to the ground and pinned his legs with hers. Psychotic episodes like this were dangerous, very dangerous. She pressed his arms into the leg of the bed and held him firm, "Soph, there are a pair of handcuffs in my drawer, get them for me."

Sophia's eyes widened, "yes, Gunny," she came back a few seconds later and tossed them to her mother, who caught them with her super strong right hand. She secured the cuffs around his wrists, and around the leg of the bed, holding him solid. He may hurt himself a little, but at least he couldn't hurt anyone else.

"Loki, it's me," she tried her best to make him listen, that was the only way to snap him out of this dreamlike state, "it's Bella, your buddy, remember?"

"Your name does not matter," he sneered at her, pulling at the cuffs, "you are one of _them_!"

"Who are 'them'?" Bella demanded to know.

"The Chitauri are coming!"

Bella held him fast, "no Honey. They've come. We beat them. Focus on my voice. It's Bella. I want to speak to Loki," she said calmly, "Loki?"

"There is no Loki," he told her.

"Don't be silly, Loki. Come on, talk to me."

"There is no Loki," he repeated, "There is only Thanos."

That was freaky, and she wasn't really sure what was supposed to mean, but she tucked the information into the back of her head in case she had to use it again. The gentle approach wasn't getting her anywhere, and so she reverted back to her Marine instincts and hit him in the face, and his nose erupted in blood. He fell back in pain.

He blinked a couple of times, and he tasted his own blood. That brought him around, "Bella?" he asked. She rolled off him, all his resistance gone. He pulled at the handcuffs and glanced at Sophia who aimed her mother's pistol at him clumsily, "what did I do?" he whispered.

"Nothing much," she shrugged, "you just got a little mouthy."

They sat in front of the fire for a long time after she settled her daughter back into bed and took the pistol from her. The doorbell rang, and she patted him on the shoulder, "I'll be right back," she said, "go fix yourself a sandwich and a hot drink."

"Okay," he said softly and wandered to the kitchen. She went to the front door and answered it. Nick Fury stood before her, his monocular gaze cutting into her. Regardless, she ushered him in.

"This had better be good, Rodriguez."

"To the contrary, Boss," she answered, "your plans to move the prisoner to maximum security have to be put on hold to maintain safety and to comply with the UN bylaws and the Geneva Convention."

"The Rock is complete and ready. Exactly which UN bylaw am I breaking by ordering the transfer?" he kept his face entirely straight. She could never tell when Fury was trying to intimidate her. It seemed that he only had one mode, but she didn't care about being intimidated. She never really took much notice, she was a Marine.

"Boss, mental health is a critical issue here, and it is a basic human right to feel safe, and to be healthy, even as a prisoner. You cannot deny him a basic human right," Bella argued, "the kid's gonna have a mental breakdown."

"He isn't human," Fury interrupted her.

"Either way, he is a prisoner of war, even though it is due to an alliance," she shot back, "and that affords him certain rights."

Fury sighed, giving in slightly, "What mental problems?"

"Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," she answered her boss. If asked how she knew, she would simply say that she was a Marine, and as a Marine, she had seen it, "he is very unstable, and I think a move can endanger both his life and yours," she told him.

"So in your opinion, he is not safe to transport?"

"Correct," she confirmed, "with the symptoms he is showing, it would be seriously detrimental to his mental health if you even attempted to move him. The smallest change could send him off the rails. He has depression, panic attacks, sleeplessness, insomnia, night terrors, all textbook symptoms of PTSD," she sighed, "I have seen a lot of that recently."

"I am not asking for a doctoral thesis, Rodriguez, I am asking for your opinion," Fury told her flatly, "is it safe to transport him to the Rock?"

"No," she told him, "he should stay here for now," she rubbed her jaw, "I can handle it."


	14. Chapter 14

He looked up at her as he re-entered the room, "I am not traumatised."

She rubbed her jaw; "tell that to my jaw," she replied flatly.

"I heard every word of that," he said, sitting down. He handed her the sandwich, "I don't really want this." She took the sandwich and took a bite out of it. She would eat just about anything.

"I stand up to my boss on a daily basis, sometimes he can't see ethical issues. I understand that a lot of good men died, but I know that they, or at least my men, wouldn't want to see you go under," she explained through half a mouthful of shredded sandwich, sitting back down on her leather lounge. She checked her watch. It was about two AM. "Sometimes I don't think I'm cut out for SHIELD, I have too much heart."

He smiled wryly, "thank you."

She nodded, "Semper fi," Bella said simply, "It's Latin, it means always faithful. That's what we Marines are," she took another bite out of her sandwich and smiled, "damn good sandwich."

"Thanks."

"You see, the Corps is like a massive family," she told him, "no man gets left behind, especially not the weakest of our number. That's why I won't leave you to the Rock."

"What exactly is the Rock?"

Bella smiled wryly, "the Rock is the name we gave to a prison called Alcatraz, it's a tourist attraction now, but it was famed to be inescapable, until somebody escaped," she took another bite of the sandwich, "but we made a prison cell for you. We call it the Rock."

"I'm flattered."

"Tony designed it especially to hold you. Unlike the other one, it had booby traps inside the cell," she said, "it's really cool, but not when you're trying to escape," she smiled, "they tested it on me. I had to beg Tony to let me out after three days because I needed to go to the toilet." She took another bite out of the sandwich and smiled at him, "I don't want you in there, it's friggin' cruel."

"Thank you," he smiled wryly, "thank you for accepting me," he didn't think that he had said 'thank you' so many times in the same conversation.

Bella laughed, "It's a dirty job but someone has to do it." He laughed too. "It's not for me, Sophie really likes you," Bella told him, "she's always been nuts over the Vikings, and to have a real Norse god in her house, she's stoked. Out of all the gods she wants to be her friends, you're on top, followed by Kathulu. She's just a bit pissed that all these amazing things happen and she can't say a word."

He smiled, but didn't say a word.

"My baby girl's so important to me," Bella continued, "She's the best thing that happened to me, although her father was the worst. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her." Bella smiled sadly, "he treats her like shit too, Daniel, Sophie's deadbeat dad. Soph bought him a beautiful pendant, dark green onyx, he likes that stuff. She saved up her money for weeks, and in the end I still paid most of it. She gave it to him on father's day, and he threw it back in her face because it wasn't good enough," was it his imagination or was Bella beginning to cry? "When she got home, she told me she wanted a father's day gift, or either a new dad or no dad."

Loki inhaled sharply, "that sounds shockingly familiar," but then he reached under his jumper and a leather throng dangled from his fingers, on the end was am oval green onyx pendant. Bella's eyes widened for a second. Sophia had given him this before she had settled into bed. She wanted to talk to him for a second.

"She told me it would protect me from monsters," he smiled, turning the small crystal in his hand, and Bella watched as his lips twitched into a small but warm smile, "I am honored that she would give me an object this important."

Bella smiled at him and patted his shoulder, "If you believe it will help you, it will. Belief's very powerful."

"I am truly sorry."

"For what?"

He was silent for a long time, but then he looked down at his shoes, studying the laces of his gym boots, "I killed your men, in cold blood. I am the Destructor."

"To what do I owe this mood swing?"

"The Shrine," he answered simply.

She smiled sadly, putting an arm around him, "do you want to know why I took this assignment?"

"You were ordered to," Loki replied cynically.

"Apart from that," she bit back, "I wanted to see the great monster, the so-called Destroyer, but I don't see a homicidal psychopath," she held him a little tighter, "I see a disturbed young mind, I see all the signs of textbook PTSD, I see a kid, scared, out of control. I don't know what happened, but I do know that something happened."

"Listen, Rodriguez, I learned young that the only one I could ever trust was me," he snapped back at her, "that way nobody could ever let me down."

Bella sighed, "but that means that nobody can help you either," she smiled reassuringly, "I want to help, Loki. Please let me. Trust me."

"Give me a break."

"I am a mother first, a Marine second and a SHIELD agent last," she sighed, "I will not betray you, Loki. You are one of my men now."

He looked up at her for a long time, "I have heard that many times before."

She stared at him for a moment, her eyes hard and soft at the same time. He shivered slightly, something about the way she was looking at him made him slightly nervous, "Semper fi," she said simply.


	15. Chapter 15

DAY 13: 0704 HOURS

"Stop staring at me."

"We could always talk about your anguished soul," he gave her a cutting glare over the breakfast table, "here," she handed him the morning paper; "I've done the hard parts of the crossword for you."

"Thanks," he took it off her, "of course, you have to remember that we do not have the same definition of 'hard'."

She shrugged, "whatever."

He glared down at the clues for a long time. A nine letter word for house; he wrote Jotunheim, only because it would fit.

She cleared his bowl away, "residence," she corrected him, "residence goes in that space, not Joelheim, whatever that word is. Schlaigelhauffen."

"Jotunheim," he corrected her, "it is where I am from, originally."

"So I've heard," she said, "I have also heard that you tried to blast it a while ago. It's pretty clear to me that you have no strong ties to it."

"What are you doing? Searching for clues to my mental state in the cryptic crossword?" he bit at her.

"Its New York state," his glare cut into her, "Okay, Icicles," she held up her hands defensively, "didn't mean to piss you off, but hey, it's an occupational hazard," she smiled, "is J . . . J-Heim pretty?"

He looked up at her with almost a look of shock on his face, "if you think that it is a word of ice palaces and elves as in your myth of Santa Claus, you are much mistaken."

She sat back down opposite him, "I believe I am having flashbacks to Arctic survival drills," she sipped her juice, "other planets and stuff, they interest me," he cocked his head at her; "you don't think I have a telescope on my roof just to spy on the neighbors, do you?"

"Do you wish to know about the other realms?"

"A little, yeah. And to know whether dragons really exist," she crossed her arms over the table, "Asgard first."

"Why Asgard?"

"Because I can pronounce it," Bella answered back simply. Loki smiled at her with a tiny laugh, "all I know about it is what's written down in Sophie's books."

"The palace looks like a pipe organ," Loki replied, "and the city is like New York, only bigger, more sprawling, more advanced, and with less gas fumes."

She arched an eyebrow, "not much to write home about then?"

"Not really," he replied, "and we would kill for some good leadership."

"I knew Odin was a douchebag, but this is ridiculous," she shook her head and smiled, bemused.

"We could do with a leader that is stupid and harmless rather than, as Sophia puts it, alien Pol Pot," Loki told her.

"He's that mercenary?" Bella gasped, "I may be working for Thor, but where does he get his commands?"

"Despite grandiose postulating that he is king of Asgard and the protector of the nine realms, he protects himself, first, last, always," Bella's eyes widened, "there is a method to his madness, unfortunately. There have always been, and he has always used me. Sometimes I feel like a stolen relic."

"You don't look like the Arc of the Covenant," she grinned, "we all feel like pawns in the cosmic guessing game, believe me, I know," she squeezed his hand, "some people believe in a god, some believe in Karma, and I even know one guy that swears by the big purple spaghetti monster. Sometimes we feel like someone has orchestrated our entire lives in come sick game, and I know that I feel although I am stuck in ten rounds of D and D, and when that happens, do you wanna know what I say to the big man?"

"What?"

"'Fuck you'," she said simply, "I am sick of his sadistic ant-farm power game down here, and I'm not playing it anymore," Loki began to grin at her, "If God, Odin, Allah, Yaweh or whoever the fuck he is wants to watch people squirm, he can make more epileptics, 'cuz I'm not gonna writhe for his amusement," she grinned slightly herself, "and if your Not-Pa wants to watch you stew before he kills you, the worst punishment you can give him is that he has to watch you get better and change the world in a positive way. It hurts because he could have done the same thing."

He slouched a little lower, "they lied to me, they all lied to me . . ."

"Loki, it doesn't matter now," she told him gently, "it doesn't matter that they lied to you before, Honey, all that matters is the present now. What are you gonna do next? Are you gonna fall down and die or are you gonna crusade for the truth. Once you know the truth, you find peace," He sort of grunted at her, and still looked incredibly depressed. According to Thor, he had been this way since his mom died, and he had only gotten worse after being busted for impersonating his old man that had actually been in Odin Sleep for his second stint as king. The fact that Loki did not kill Odin proved to his brother that there was still a scrap of the old Loki in there, and Thor would be glad that she was starting to reveal it.

"And besides," she started, "if I found an adorable blue baby abandoned on a rock or something, I think I would keep him too."

"Abandoned in a temple," Loki corrected her.

Bella's brow furrowed, "isn't that a weird place to abandon a baby? I mean, what self-respecting tyrant like Laufey would leave a kid to die in a place where a priest or nun or something can pick him up and look after him?"

"What do you mean adorable?" he changed out one awkward subject for another.

She grinned, "When look at you, I don't see a killer," she explained, "I'm a Marine, despite the brotherhood of us all, I am a highly trained killing machine, which is something that you are not," after a confused glance with Loki, she decided to give him an ultimatum, "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."


	16. Chapter 16

"Six years ago, Helmut Province, Afghanistan. My CO got an emergency call from a neighboring squad, bomb scare in their ER, and I, being one of the only bomb technicians for miles, he sent me up.

"Technically I wasn't supposed to be there, women are not allowed on the front line of battle, but a job is a job, and I got four men from a Marine Recon unit stationed with us to escort me to the base. They were armed to the teeth, the nastiest looking Devil-Dogs I had ever seen, and we were going across this potholed piece-of-shit road in a Humvee when we hit an IED. Needless to say, we blew right the fuck up. I should have seen it, I was trained to see it, but Taliban snipers were blasting away at us, and we were all a little too preoccupied trying not to be killed in the face.

"The next bit is all a blur. I remember crawling out of the wreck, I remember staring into the eyes of my dead buddy, I remember the heat, and I remember incredible pain. I couldn't breathe. Everything smelled like diesel smoke and the next thing I know is that there is a great shadow over me and somebody is yelling at me in Pasdu, telling me to get up or something. I passed out not long after that.

"The next thing I remember some doctor talking to me in English, and explaining that if my government did not hand over two million dollars or five of the Taliban leaders in Gitmo, then I would be tortured and executed. The Taliban are nasty fuckers, that treat their women like cattle, and white women even worse, it's not healthy to be an American girl in Afghanistan, I can tell you.

"Of course, even with the government's grandiose postulating and mantras that 'no man gets left behind', they neither sent the ransom nor mounted a rescue mission for me. As soon as it became apparent to the bad guys I was of no use to them, they went nuts. I don't remember half of the torture, and I don't want to. All I remember is pain; and sitting alone in a cold cell, crying my eyes out over the never being able to see the new Batman movie, of all the stupid things to cry about . . .

"I don't know how long I was there exactly, all I know was that it felt like an eternity, and I hear explosions above me. I didn't know if that was a bad thing or a good thing at the time, but anything else was better. There was gunfire, and it got closer and closer, until the iron door was busted open and a guy in full combat fatigues knelt beside me. It was Willis, Captain John McLean. He made a team, unsanctioned, and against orders from the Sec-Nav to get me out. They're the only reason that I am alive.

"The Navy doctors had me under in some sort of coma for about three weeks when they amputated my right arm and tried to fix up my chest, which had been mostly crushed. They lopped off my right calf too, the bone shattered beyond repair. They were in way over their heads, and when I finally woke up, I saw Fury.

"He said he wanted me for SHIELD, some ultra top secret agency or something, and had a friend that could fix me, and that's how I got linked up with Tony Stark. Has the mental age of twelve, and mental capacity of Einstein. He's smarter than most of the assorted geniuses I have met, and once you get past his excessive jerkiness; he is a really nice guy. He designed this thing for me, a partial titanium skeleton to replace the ribs and part or my shoulder that got busted up bad, and a metal arm and half of my leg. It runs on arc reactor tech, and needs a recharge every once in a while, but it is keyed into my electrical impulses so I can move it like a normal part of my body.

"But the rehab, it took a lot out of me. For a long time, I couldn't control the tech keeping me alive, and my mind lashed out. I started getting these freaky powers. I could always tell when somebody was lying, but now I could move things with my mind, or reach into people's minds. Fury kept a close eye on me, of course.

"He tried to recruit me when I was mostly fixed, but I told him that I wasn't finished with the Corps. Parris Island took me back as a trainer, and that's where I was those six years, living on base, mostly. Sure, I had a flat out in Beaufort, but I hardly used it.

"A few months before New York, Daniel filed for divorce, tried to take me for all I was worth, of course I was an enlisted Marine, and had next to nothing. I was so scared that he would take Soph, but the courts awarded her to me instead. We had a big party when it went through, I burned all the shit he left behind in the backyard, and my friends and I toasted marshmallows and drank beer. Coulson was there, originally to try to recruit me again, but he stayed for the party and we kind of became friends.

"So to New York. I was one of the closest to when the massacre started, and so me and a heap of guys, mostly trainers and fresh graduates got together and decided to go in to try to save people. They would have gone even if I had told them not to. We fought those alien motherfuckers until the last man, which was me. I met Hawkeye when I saved his ass on a roof with a well aimed sniper, and when everything was over, I asked for the Avenger dudes to give me a lift to see Fury, and I joined SHIELD.

"Sometimes I wish I could change it, but if I did, all those people I saved in New York, with the training I gave, they would be dead."

He understood now. If those terrorists hadn't have tried to kill her, she would not have ended up saving so many lives, and he got to wondering, how would the universe have been different, better if he had never fallen from Bifrost?

She sensed his thoughts, "don't over think it, Loki, you'll drive yourself insane," he cast her a cutting glare, "is insane-erer a word?" she patted his shoulder, "what's done is done. Think of now, because in the end that's really all we have."


	17. Chapter 17

DAY 14: 1332 HOURS

He landed on the front path, and a young child nearby blew his bubblegum so hard; it popped all over his face, leaving a sticky pink mess.

"Good morning, young one," he said to the child, but he could do nothing but stare, and as a result, the boy flew off the swing in his front yard. Thor was in his neighborhood.

He ambled up to the door and rung the doorbell.

"The door's open."

_Is that Loki?_

He entered, sticking Mjolnir on a hook by the door. He immediately entered the lounge, where Loki lay on his stomach, on the floor with a young girl, several sheets of paper and books spread out between and around them.

"I think you better stick with the mythology books for your sources," he told the girl, "if you tell your teachers that you used the real god of chaos for your primary source of information, one; you'll get an 'F' and two; SHIELD would burst into your classroom and take you away."

"Just tell me which myths are real and I'll do those," said the girl.

"Do Thor's big white wedding, Utgardaloki, Sif's hair, and Ragnarok," Loki told her.

He was idly scribbling on a sketchpad while the big piece of cardboard remained blank. The girl copied notes from one of the thick books and she pointed at a myth. Loki looked over her shoulder, "what really happened?"

"Dunno, Ragnarok hasn't happened yet," he shrugged, "just assume I become an obnoxious head that hangs from Thor's belt."

"Remember," the little girl waggled a finger at him, "assume makes an ass out of you and me."

Loki heard him approach and looked up, "hi, Thor."

"Hi Loki," He sat down on the sofa and smiled, "what enthralls you, Brother?"

"It's just a lame assignment for English class," the girl answered.

Loki smiled, "Sophia asked me for help with her assignment," he continued to draw the picture, "I am doing the design as I am an impeccable dresser."

"And he is my main source of information," Sophia added. She grinned at him as he went back to work, then looked up again, "wait; are you a Space-Viking too?"

"Umm."

Loki looked up, "say hello to Thor, god of thunder and self-proclaimed champion of Earth."

"Hello Thor," Sophia beamed up at him. Thor watched them for a second before he noticed that Bella was leaning against the door frame.

"Come into my office," she beckoned him away from the lounge, and he got up and followed her down a flight of stairs, into a dark subterranean cavern. She flicked on the lights. Workbenches and rows of tools lined the benches, and on one makeshift bench in the center of the room were several bits of carved wood, Thor recognized them immediately as parts of a throne.

Bella saw what he was looking at, "he wants to put it in the living room," she explained, shrugging. She dusted off a stool and offered Thor a seat.

He sat down, "are you alright with that?"

"At least it's not a longboat," she sat on a disused saw horse herself, "he wants to give it to me, for some strange reason. But woodwork seems to keep him calm, so I have nothing against it." She poured some bourbon into a mug and a jar, and handed Thor the mug, he took it carefully, "and at least it beats Diablo 3 where he's yelling things about death to all mortals all night."

Thor did not understand half of what she had said, "This is your office?"

"Basement," she answered, "so, near enough," she grinned, "you need the poop on my progress," she noted. Thor sort of raised an eyebrow at her, "I've barely scratched the surface, but the Kid's got more baggage than a Samsonite factory. At least he's mostly over the Borderline Personality Disorder . . ."

"I do not understand," Thor's brow furrowed.

"A Samsonite is a suitcase, but that's not important right now," she waved it off, "now back to the point. There is much more going on underneath that icy exterior, but he's melting a little. I see evidence of a disorder that we humans call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," Thor still looked slightly confused, and so she decided that she would dumb it down a little.

"You see, after a period of intense stress, a person can develop problems such as flashbacks, nightmares, depression, anxiety," she counted them off on her fingers and sipped her bourbon out of the glass jar, "I have told your brother as such, and he refused to admit that there is a problem."

Thor smiled, "that is Loki, stubborn and proud."

"More like weak," Bella corrected him, "it is a classic example of emotional transference. He is outwardly stubborn and proud and in control to disguise the fact that he has no power at all. He feels although he is spiraling out of control, and a part of himself that scorns for not coping better."

"How?" Thor asked her.

"I am of the belief that he was tortured by the Chitauri," Bella replied, swigging her bourbon again. She knew that she probably shouldn't be drinking at this time, but she did anyway. Thor thought about it. It made sense. Loki had gone from only wanting to be his equal to wanting to see him and Odin dead at the foot of his throne.

"It's like comparing the Lion King and Terminator Two: Judgement Day. It's a big leap, so something big must have happened to cause it," she said logically, " and after reviewing the security tapes from SHIELD and Stark Tower, I noticed this," she handed him a still of the pair fighting on the balcony of Stark Tower, "that is not a camera flare."

She was right; Loki's eyes were glowing, "what does this mean?"

"I'm not Sigmund Freud or anything, but I would wager that it is something like hypnotism, but stronger, where a certain instruction is implanted in the mind, and as it unfurls, takes complete control," she gulped, "it appears that Loki came to Earth under the control of the Chitauri. I cannot think of a worse torture than to be locked into your own body while somebody else drives it around and makes you destroy stuff, and people." She smiled wryly, "that and he told me."

Thor nodded, "what can you do?"

Bella smiled sadly, "the treatment is supportive. He needs those closest to him, but I am afraid you and Odin may cause more harm."

"Explain."

"Thor, old chum," she sighed, "there is still a part of Loki that is still repressed, living in your shadow, trying to be heard, trying to live up to you, trying to be just like Daddy. Unconsciously, he compares himself to the both of you, and when he does, he feels weak. The last thing he needs is to feel inferior."

"So what you are saying is-."

"He needs you, but not yet," she said, "he's not strong enough. He holds a lot of guilt for what he has done, and he wants more than ever to fix it, but he can't bring himself to face his father."

Thor nodded, "I understand," he nodded, and sipped the bourbon, "you drink this?"

"There's alcohol in it," Bella said flatly. She sensed his unasked question, "I have seen it," she told him, "so many times," she sighed and sipped her bourbon, "I know I can do this, because I survived. You have my word, so will he."

Thor put down his bourbon and nodded to her before leaving. She followed him up the stairs. They both glanced into the lounge as they walked past it, to still see Sophia and Loki lying on the floor, chatting about the assignment. Loki was still drawing, and grinning like an idiot, and only when he moved did he see the picture. It was of him and Thor, grinning, covered by blood and stains. Thor grinned.

"I have a question for you, Sophia."

"Shoot."

"Why do they call you 'Chicken Hawk'?"

Sophia grinned, "I want to be Hawkeye when I grow up, but Mom keeps saying I'm too little," she wrote down something in a little, black book, "'I ain't that little'," she did her very best Henery Hawk impression and Loki laughed.

"There's a scared kid trapped somewhere in there, I just know it," Bella put a hand on his shoulder gently, and he made no attempt to shake her off.

"So do I."


	18. Chapter 18

_You think you know pain? We shall make you long for something sweet as pain._

He woke up sometime later in front of the fire with no idea what time it was, and with almost no recollection of his position in the universe. All he knew was that he heard thunder and a flash of lightning played in the corner of his eye. He shot bolt upright, "where am I?"

"With me," Bella flicked the page of a Spider Man comic, "the Chitauri are long dead and Thor is very far away." She bent down in her chair and stroked his hair for a second.

He sat up, leaning against the arm chair, shaking the fog out of his head, "oh, right," he pulled him up off the floor and into the armchair, "Spider Man?"

"I've always loved comics," she explained, putting it down, "when I was in the Corps, Mom would send me a bulk pack of all the comics that came out that month, Spider Man, Bat Man, Super Man, Green Lantern, a whole lot more," she smiled, "they kept me sane over there with all the bombs going off."

"Have a nice chat with Thor?"

She shrugged, "he kept his sentences shorter than ten words, and I didn't confuse him with intelligent ideas, so I reckon it went smoothly," she flicked another page and grinned as she read.

"What's the verdict, Sigmund?"

"You know I can't tell you that," Bella flicked another page, "but I can tell you that I'm getting gold from the Asgard vaults," he glared at her for a long time, "I'm kidding. What would I want with gold? I have everything I need right here."

He thought about this for a long time, staring into the flames of the fire. Was this all he needed? He had spent so much time chasing the throne and vengeance, he didn't know anymore. He was lost.

"What time is it?" he asked her.

She checked her watch, "about seven thirty. At eight, Soph wants you to read her a bedtime story."

Loki was speechless, "me?"

I thought she had grown out of bedtime stories too, but she wants to hear more about you, the God of Blunder and the Super Friends," Bella flicked the page again and laughed, reading something that was funny, "and how the hell you didn't break and try to kill them earlier."

He sighed, and grinned himself. Despite thinking that he would hate this, he was beginning to get into the swing of things, and really love the atmosphere. He wasn't judged, and he wasn't treated any differently to Sophia. In a way he found it insulting, but knowing that Bella held him in as high a regard as her own daughter impressed him at the same time. Everybody was so honest, and the one thing he needed was no more lies.

"Soph's got a parent teacher thingie tomorrow night," Bella said, "you're welcome to come."

He looked up at her, "really?"

"You need the air," she told him, "and I have to be there. I don't really want you stuck here alone, with Captain America," she shuddered slightly, "he's my second in command here, and his righteous justice and patriotism really gets on my nerves," she finished reading and handed the comic over to Loki, who took it and examined it, "I'm worried that if you spend too much time with him, you'll kill him in the face with my meat cleaver."

Loki smiled, "So what you mean is that all will be fine until he opens his mouth?"


	19. Chapter 19

DAY 15: 1830 HOURS

He felt like a freak, and he understood that he probably was. Everybody else around him were either in three piece suits or the latest fashions that seemed like trash, and he was dressed in a pair of second hand jeans and a shirt with the Bat signal on it. Bella was dressed in her Marine uniform. According to all the authorities, she was still in the Corps and an attache to SHIELD.

He wasn't meant to be here. He recognized some faces, and thank the all powerful one they didn't notice him. He was surrounded by people he had tried to kill. They sat in a table with the English teacher, Sophia in between them looking a little nervous.

_I feel like a donkey's butt._

"I have a problem with your daughter's essay," the mousy bespectacled woman looked across the table at Bella, seeming to ignore Loki completely.

"Is this the one about banning capital punishment and bringing back torture instead?" Bella cocked her head, her hat, or 'cover' as the Marines called it, sitting on her lap delicately. Through her stockings, a glint of silver metal could be seen in the light, her right leg was metallic.

"If so, it was obviously a joke."

Loki grinned, and Sophia nudged him, grinning too, "joke," Loki repeated, "yes indeed."

The woman tossed a ten page essay on her desk. Bella read it, "'the Massacre of New York'," she said, "'subtitle; how the Destructor _should _have taken over the world'."

Loki laughed, "Can I have a look at that?" she tossed it over to him. And he flicked through it, "'everything wrong with the Massacre of New York," he flicked a few more pages, "'choosing New York as his first point of large scale attack, the Destroyer made a fundamental mistake; while it is good to be visible in order to crush the enemy's morale, it is imperative that all utilities have first been destroyed so that the enemy, ie us, cannot coordinate an effective resistance. In short, the New York Massacre should have occurred later in the human Chitauri war as the Allied bombing of Dresden occurred in the later stages of World War Two'," he tied not to laugh, but faced Sophia with a grin, "you are hereby promoted to my Commissar of Defense."

Sophia beamed, and the English teacher looked down at them disapprovingly. Bella snatched the essay back off him and glanced at the cover, "F? Are you kidding me?" she shook her head at the teacher with a surly glare, "why?" she asked simply.

"The subject manner is inappropriate for a child so young," the teacher replied, pushing her glasses further up her nose, uncomfortable in the chair, "and what we were looking for in the assignment was originality and a non violent subject matter, perhaps a short story about her visit to her father."

Sophia visibly fumed as the teacher said that, and Loki patted her arm, "relax, friend."

"Look, Teach," Bella snapped, "You know my daughter and if the subject matter was supposed to be non-violent, you should not have told your class 'a topic of your choice'. Have you read any other assignments on this subject?"

"No," the teacher informed her.

"Then it is original," Bella said flatly, "it is written in a perfect essay format, and all the information in this document is entirely correct," she slapped the essay back down on her table, "fix this mark," she ordered.

"You cannot order me around like the enlisted in the Corps," the woman said meekly.

She sighed, "Fix it or I will inform the Principal of this blatant abuse of your post when grammatically, structurally and sequentially, this essay is perfect," she arched an eyebrow, "and if the principal does not authorize a re-mark, I will lodge this complaint with the District Superintendent of Schools."

"I will fix the mark," she said quickly, "A plus," she squeaked.

Bella smiled, "that's what I'd do."

As Loki got up to leave behind Bella, he grabbed the essay off the table, "I believe we have seen everyone," but then Bella stopped dead and spun back around, facing him, "what is wrong?"

"Act natural, you're not hurt," she whispered to herself. Loki glared at her for a moment.

Sophia grabbed Loki's arm. She knew exactly what was going on, "come on, Loki, let's get some punch," she led him away by the arm, and he glanced back to see a tall blonde approach behind Bella.

"Set a court date, yet?" he asked her in a slimy tone and she turned to face him.

"Daniel, what an amusing surprise," she cocked her head, and Loki immediately felt his hackles rise. He chose to pay total attention to the snack table, dipping his hand into the corn chips.

"Sophie, is that your father?"

"Unfortunately," Sophia leaned by the water cooler with a plastic cup of punch, "I suppose compared to your dad, alien Pol Pot, he's not too bad. At least he has never _actively_ tried to kill me."

_Does that mean he has inactively tried to kill you? _He couldn't help listening in.

"Daniel, please, enough with the sass. I'm here with my daughter."

"And your latest fuck," Daniel bit at her, "how old is he? Nineteen? Twenty? Robbing the cradle there, don't you think?" he sneered, "you've always been a slut."

"Hey!" she snapped at him, "let's not forget who was fucking around on whom."

He laughed, "And you were an angel," he snapped at her again, "you were always deployed, and you still are, the Desert Fox," he took some papers out of his pocket; "I am filing for total custody."

"So you can be closer to Soph to ignore her more accurately?" Bella bit back, "you can say anything you want about me, I don't give two shits what you think of me, but don't you dare threaten to take my daughter away into a life of depravity and neglect."

"Depravity and neglect?" he laughed, "She spends half her time with Captain Rodgers and the rest she usually spends with that asshole Tony Stark and his bitch. You neglect her more than I do."

"Who helps her with her homework? Who comes to these stupid events dressed like Marine Barbie?"

"You are a whore."

Daniel was making a scene, and most mothers and teachers were glaring at the pair of them in silence. This was part of his plan.

"Stay here," Loki told Sophia, who nodded, but she followed not far behind anyway. She knew he was going to do something stupid.

"Please," she grabbed his sleeve, "don't do anything stupid."

"Why do you assume I'm going to do something stupid?"

"You have that righteous look of justice and indignation on your face just like Captain America," Sophia bit back. She was a lot like her mother.

Loki approached them, grinning, "From that barrage of empty threats and foul language, I must assume that you are Daniel De Martino," he outstretched a hand to the stranger; "I am most pleased to meet you."

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Luke Silver, otherwise known as the nineteen year old kid. Oh yes, De Martino, I heard every word," he replied quickly, but not too quickly, "you remind me a lot of my brother," and then his smile disappeared, "I hate my brother." Bella's lips quirked in a smile.

"But out of this, Smartass," Daniel sneered at him.

"Leave her alone," Loki demanded. For a second, he was thinking of invoking a royal command and then he remembered that he was technically wasn't a royal anymore. Oh well. "I will not fight you, De Martino, but you will leave." He turned to walk away.

"Big words for a runt, for a cute little feller" Daniel yelled at him, "Care to back 'em up? Protect your bitch!"

Loki stopped. Nobody called him a runt, and nobody called him _cute_. He was not cute. He was the god of chaos, a mass murderer. He was _not _cute. He could _never _be _cute_!

Sophia noticed his demeanor change, "Loki, no."

"Please," Bella gulped, "don't do anything stupid," those words mirrored those of her daughter.

"Damn," he whispered, then he spun around fast and a swift punch connected to Daniel's jaw and he was knocked back. He only needed one. Daniel fell back on the gymnasium floor unconscious, with blood dripping from his split lip and his nose was so broken the hole would make a good cup-holder. People gasped and run about, calling an ambulance and gathering around the fallen man. Bella and Loki stared at each other for a while.

"You idiot."

He sat on the chair in the end of the Rock. His new cell looked like his old cell, only much bigger, and instead of being designed for a big, green, witless beast, it was designed especially for him, and not even his whirring mind could defeat the electronics. Unlike the electronics, he hesitated slightly, which never bode well for him.

"You punched Daniel De Martino in the jaw," Fury paced around in front of the cell, "give me one good reason why I should not lock you up?" Loki was silent for a long time, sitting there, staring. The last thing he was going to do was squirm. It did not become him at all.

"I am just so funny," he replied flatly.

"Don't sass me," Fury bit at him, "I can leave you here to rot."

"I am sure you could," Loki replied, not at all phased by the empty threat. He had developed a lot in the past couple of weeks, and had found that nothing really bothered him, not even the armed guards, but he wasn't sure if that was due to knowledge or arrogance.

"What do you think you were doing?"

"I was defending a lady's honor," Loki finally answered him, "on my planet, it is considered admirable to protect one over yourself." He crossed his arms defiantly over his chest.

"You're on my planet where that is called assault," Fury snapped back. Inwardly, he was wondering about the sudden mood swing, and thinking that maybe his agent was doing a little more than her job here.

Loki arched an eyebrow. Bella grinned at him from Fury's side, "wow," she said, and Fury looked at her, "that's kind of sweet." She grinned and shook her head, "that's never happened to me before.

"You're welcome," Loki smiled back, swinging his legs over onto the other side of the bench and lay down, deciding that civilized decorum was absolutely useless in this situation.

"Loki!"

He recognized the voice immediately; Thor. "Now I'm in trouble."

"What have you done?" he entered the room, "can you make an attempt_ not_ to get in trouble for more than a few days?"

"It's good to see you too," Loki arched an eyebrow, sarcasm dripping from his teeth.

He looked although he had walked out of a resonance fair, with the long, flowing red cape and silver armor. He stopped in front of the cell and stared at him with furious eyes. Then he turned to Bella.

"Lady Isabella, what is the meaning of this?"

She smiled wryly, "he punched out my ex-husband," she said flatly, "apparently murder's fine, but he can't abide with rudeness."

"He was calling her all sorts of names," Loki looked at his brother, "were we not raised to defend the honor of our women-folk?" he sat up to look directly at Thor.

Thor deliberated for a short time, "yes," he answered, "in our philosophy, you have done nothing wrong, Loki."

Fury's eye widened slightly. He was outgunned, both from within and from with-out the heavens. Loki smiled slightly.

"It is good that you are remembering who you were," Thor told him.

"It's all coming back to me now," Loki grinned at his brother, "unfortunately not all of it is flowers and bunny rabbits."

Bella looked her boss in the eye, "I swear, with your God as my witness, this will be a completely isolated incident, isn't that right, Loki?" Bella arched her eyebrow at him, and it was pretty clear by her face that he either must agree or be head-slapped.

"Right," Loki said with a smirk, "and from now on, I'll also do all my chores and stop kicking puppies."

"You are allowed to leave back to your protective custody," Fury told him, "however from this moment onward, your travel privileges have been revoked."


	20. Chapter 20

Bella opened the door for him and mentioned for him to get into the back of the car, "I can open doors for myself," he bit at her.

"Its protocol," Bella got in the car for herself, "It's stupid, but those are the rules."

"Where is Sophia?"

"Steve drove her home," Bella answered, "too bad, too. She wanted to see you and Fury get into a Sabre duel in the parking lot," She gunned the engine, "I must admit, that would have been pretty cool to see."

Loki smiled and leaned back, "I'd win."

DAY 16: 0320 HOURS

She was half asleep when someone grabbed her shoulder. She pulled the gun out from under her pillow and cocked it at her assailant.

"Loki, I know you have a storm phobia, but this is ridiculous," she slipped the pistol back under her pillow.

"Please," Loki blushed a delicate shade of pink, "I am embarrassed enough."

She listened to the storm outside and inwardly shrugged. _This is bloody ridiculous. . ._

"C'mon, let's watch the storm," Bella said in a soothing voice, taking his hand delicately and leading him around the bedroom to the window.

"What?"

"Sophie and I used to do it all the time," she took his hand and helped him up. She pulled him over to the window where the eerie flashes of lightning played and the pane of glass was shaken by the thunder. She noticed him flinch every time lightning struck and thunder roared. The rain battered the window. If they went out onto the balcony, they would get soaked.

She put an arm around his shoulders as they stood together, watching the storm, "do you know where lightning really comes from?"

"I have no idea."

"Lightning comes from the ground," Bella told him matter-of-factly, "and it goes up." She grinned, "Thor's gone home, Loki," she looked him in the eye, "I bet you it's Storm."

"Who is Storm?"

"Storm's a mutant," Bella explained, but Loki still looked at her, confused, "She can control storms."

Loki smiled awkwardly, "a mortal with power over lightning," he laughed humorlessly, "Thor would love that."


	21. Chapter 21

The storm was all but gone by the time Sophia went to school. She hoped that it would have been closed, but the only luck she ever had was bad luck.

All through the day, people had come up to her, congratulating the guy that was with her mom that had punched off her jerkoff of a dad, Loki. They asked her if he was her stepdad, to which she replied 'one day, maybe'.

DAY 18: 1548 HOURS

Bella leaned over and turned the tap off, "okay, you two, this is the third hose-fight I've broken up, the second with actual hoses!"

Both Loki and Sophia glared at her for a long time, leaning over the half-washed Impala on the street with twin looks on their faces which said it all.

_Blast, spoiled again._

"You're mean," Sophia crossed her arms as her mother reeled in the hose. Loki chose not to say anything out of self-preservation.

She grabbed the trigger nozzle, "you pair, get back to work."

"Or what?" Loki arched an eyebrow.

Bella turned on the tap and squeezed the trigger, wetting them down with the high-pressure jet, "or this."

DAY 21: 20:30 HOURS

"Doors open, Thor!" She shouted just before the doorbell rung. He entered the house, looking very pretty in his Asgard clothes. She met him in the hall.

"How goes it?" he asked her. She merely mentioned with a finger for him to follow her, and she led him up the flight of stairs. She pushed open a door that was slightly ajar, just wide enough for them to hear everything that was going on inside.

"And I was hungry, so I ate it all, but Lough was, and probably still is a practical joker, and of course part fire demon, so he didn't just eat the meat. He ate the trough too, and if he wasn't Wildfire, he'd get wood chips in his teeth," Sophie laughed as Loki told her the story, "no need to say I lost, but what a ride, and besides, Wildfire's my best friend." He smiled and leaned back a little, "so, my pride stinging, I went over to check on Thor, who was busy trying to lift up this scraggly grey cat with one eye," Sophia kept laughing, knowing that the good bit was coming up, "and he falls ass over head. I am the kind of brother that is loving and supporting, and so I do what any kind, loving, supporting brother would," he paused, "and fell over laughing."

"Great moral support," Sophie sighed, and grinned at him, "keep going."

He crossed his arms, " I did warn him that the support would be amoral at best," his lips twitched into a scheming grin, "so anyway, Thor leaped up, claiming the whole thing was a farce and threatened to bash Utgardaloki's face in. He gave us a counter offer 'wrestle with Ellie, and you will be redeemed for these failures', and it hardly helped Thor's nerves that the woman that presented herself was some old, frail piece of leather with bones," he sighed, "and I being the voice of reason-."

"Quote unquote," Sophia interrupted him, but all he did was smile.

"I kept telling him that nothing was as it seemed around here, but he wouldn't listen."

"She beat him up, right?"

"Two words. Hulk. Smash, and believe me, I know Hulk Smash," he laughed himself, "and I think that was about when old Utgarda decided that he felt sorry for us and let us stay the night," he shook his head, "and so when we were getting ready to leave the next day, Utgarda came up to us and informed us quite jovially that the cat was the Midgard Serpent, Lough was fire, but that one I knew, and the old leather jacket was in fact old age. And Thor got angry again. He grabbed the hammer and whacked it down on Utgarda's head. But he had disappeared, and then so did the castle and we were back out in the woods. We both looked around, and I turned to Thor and said-."

"I knew we should have turned left," Thor smiled at his brother.

"Thor. What an unexpected opportunity for sibling bonding," Loki's face changed, resembling shock, and he turned to face Thor, "you remembered? You do realize that was over five hundred years ago."

"Of course I remember, Brother," Thor assured him, and he smiled, "I believe that was the most fun questing I have ever had."

"Goodnight, Loki," Sophia whispered to him.

He stroked her hair and smiled, "sweet dreams, little one." He left the room with a small nod to his brother.

"You sure can tell a good story," Bella put her hands on her hips, "you really should write them down."

"I had to learn something over the last thousand odd years," he replied blankly, "as I failed the 'alien invasion class', as Sophia puts it."

Bella couldn't help but smile back, "what are you gonna do now?"

"Basement. I'm sure I can find something to make."

"Please, I don't need any more presents," Bella sighed, "I mean, what am I gonna do with that throne, or that massive writing desk?"

"Sell them on E-Bay for all I care," Loki shrugged, "at least you'll get the cost of the materials back." He walked casually down the stairs, "evening."

As soon as Loki was out of earshot, Thor spoke again, "What did you do to him?"

"I really have no idea," Bella shrugged, "it's not like I even did much but offer him a hand to hold."

Thor nodded, "never underestimate friendship."

She offered him a seat in the darkened lounge and she sat beside him, "His attitude has definitely improved, though," she continued, "no broken crockery, no demands. In fact, he is always the first to offer help, and he's fixed a lot of shit around here. A few days ago, he and Soph had a hose-fight washing my car," she smiled wryly, "several."

Thor nodded, slightly confused, "it is good to hear that some improvement has been made."

"There's still a lot of shit under the surface, believe me," Bella said, "he's dead scared of heights and storms, I believe he's still scared that you'll grab him by the neck and throw him into a rocky outcrop in the middle of Germany."

Thor decided against saying anything. The only way Bella would know that is if Loki had told her, and while he was doing the wrong things for the right reasons, it was the only option he saw at the time. He had beat his brains out over it ever since.

"He trusts me, for some strange reason," she seemed to read his mind, "and for this to work; he needs someone that he can trust someone honest, not judgmental. In other words, the only reason he would go to Odin's funeral would be to make sure he's dead. He still loves you, but he's scared of you. Every time it storms, he curls up next to me and just hugs me. I guess I give off the wide-shoulder vibe."

Thor bit his lip, "I had no idea . . ." he trailed off, "I have to apologize . . . "

"No. These scars need a little more time to heal."

"I understand," he said.

"Do you?" Bella asked, "do you, Asgardian?"


	22. Chapter 22

DAY 22: 1300 HOURS

He had always had what the humans called psychic abilities, or the 'sixth sense', Bella said he was part Jedi. He felt the universe take a funny turn, and his throat went dry. His stomach had gone through a shredder and he felt the bile rise in his gut. Either he had eaten something that really didn't agree with him, his own cooking perhaps, or there was something really strange going on.

"Bella," he grabbed her arm at the fridge, "I feel like I'm gonna throw up."

Bella sniffed the contents of a container of takeout and her nose wrinkled, "you haven't been eating out of the refrigerator again, have you?" then she grabbed his chin and turned his face away from her, "if you chuck, don't chuck it on me, Frozen."

"That's not what I mean," he told her. He knew that she would understand, if not immediately, then soon. She always understood.

"I thought they took away your psychic hotline?" she still seemed slightly skeptical. He bristled, and then she softened, "let's go for a walk."

"But SHIELD-?" he asked as she led him outside. Captain Steve Rodgers stood by the door and Bella grinned at him.

"O'Patriot," she said to Steve, "we're going for some pizza."

"There has to be at least two SHIELD agents-," Steve started, "and haven't the travel privileges been revoked?"

"Enough with the semantic hair-splitting, Stevie."

Steve shrugged, "I can't let you go," he insisted, "Fury will give me a lead enema if I let you two out of my sight."

Loki sighed, "then come with us."

"So, you think Ragnarok's about to happen?" Bella asked him, and he nodded. Steve looked at them over the pizza pie and arched an eyebrow.

"I believe so," he told her.

"You're talking about the end of the world," Steve noted.

"The end of all worlds, "Loki corrected him, "the war to end all wars. All will die."

"Ay Carumba," Bella sighed, "okay, what are we gonna do about it?"

"Fate is fate," Loki shrunk down even further, "It has been written for generations. Perhaps it would have been better if . . ."

"Back to the Hitler conundrum," Bella rolled her eyes, "give it up, Loki. What's done is done, build a bridge and get over it."

Loki's face hardened, but he said nothing. She was right, which meant he was wrong.

"We should inform Fury," Steve told them, "if something really is going to happen, we have to set up a defensive perimeter."

Bella raised her hand to her ear, "'hey, Boss, It's Bella here. Loki's gut's churning and I think that the Frost Giants are about to destroy the universe in Ragnarok'. Are you insane, Steve?"

"I said it first and I don't even believe it," Loki replied, "and besides, how are you to defend against an army coming at you from all directions?"

Bella sighed, "I guess there are twinks on every planet," she leaned back for a moment, "You're a twink, Thor's a twink. . . but what's with all the twink bosses?"

"What, per say, is a 'twink'?" Loki asked her, an eyebrow raised.

"I was going to ask the same thing," Steve admitted.

"Come on, we had better go." Loki shoved the rest of the pizza into his mouth and followed Bella out of the pizzeria. Steve was behind him, making sure he didn't rabbit. It was protocol.


	23. Chapter 23

ASGARD: SOMEWHERE IN THE PALACE

Thor entered a room he was never allowed into as a child. This was Loki's room, full of tricks and gadgets that he had no idea the meaning of half of the time. A large wooden desk sat along the wall, covered with scrolls written in a strange mixture of all languages of all realms. He did not know any of the codes, but he looked down at the schematic anyway, of a ship, a longboat, one that folded. Loki had always had some pretty strange ideas.

He sat down on the massive four-poster bed, staring down at the schematic. He could not read the calculations or understand the point, but it meant so much more. It was of Loki, and his papers almost seemed to be the only small scraps of what was left. He always came in here when he was feeling sentimental, which was something Loki would probably kill him for. Right now, he was longing for the past as well as hoping for the future.

He remembered when they were children and they used to venture out into the furthest but friendliest realms and explore. Loki always let him take the lead, but walked with more purpose, a massive stick in his hands that he helped to guide him over rough terrain. Nothing seemed to bother Loki when they were children, and wherever they went, he would always find some sort of interesting device and bring it back. He had many alien devices here in his room, some of which he reverse engineered to make even bigger and more extravagant devices. Of course, no one gave him the credit he deserved.

The only thing that bothered him was all the attention that Thor stole, the first son and heir. He understood why Loki would detest him for that.

He also remembered the first evil deed that christened Loki down the path to evil. The Dwarf Witch. It changed him, in ways he would probably never know, or even want to know . . .

He understood that while Loki could never be the same, he could never get those years back, he believed that he was doing the right thing. He had met Lady Isabella in New York. There had only been one other person that was not an Avenger to fight their way through the streets of Midtown, to Stark Tower, and tear down the security to make it almost to the roof. If he and the Avengers had been a few minutes later, Isabella of Detroit would have been Earth's great hero.

And despite the ferocity he saw, there was a great kindness in her, and while he did not understand why one would be so kind to a man that had tried to kill her, she was kind, and listened. She had to be to let him crawl into bed next to her when he was frightened. In a way, Isabella reminded him of a slightly more firm and unrelenting version of Frigga. It was clear that she was a mother, long before she had introduced her young daughter to him.

He stared at the schematic for a bit longer and decided that the next time he ventured to Midgard; he would give his brother the papers that he had found.

"Damn."

Fury was waiting for them, and as soon as he saw the three, he flew into a rage, "an order is an order, Rodriguez. The prisoner's travel privileges have been revoked. This unsanctioned trip could have cost lives."

"The prisoner," Loki scoffed, "what a way to make a man feel special."

"But it didn't," Bella replied stiffly.

"This is a blatant misconduct. You have ignored all your responsibilities of an agent under my command," Fury continued, "You or other innocent people could have been killed! You are out of warnings, Rodriguez. My patience with you is growing thin."

Loki sighed, "please, Nicholas, allow me to explain."

"Pipe down, you."

"If I may, Nicholas."

"I said 'pipe down'," Fury snapped.

Loki was not at all fazed. If there was one thing he had grown accustomed to over the years, it was being yelled at, "I take full responsibly, you see, I was, as you humans say, climbing the walls. Agent Rodriguez and Captain Rodgers here offered to escort me one block away for lunch. On completing said lunch, we were to return forthwith to this place. We honesty did not believe that something so petty would be an efficient use of your time as commander of SHIELD."

Fury eyed him, ready to kick his ass, "the three of you disobeyed a direct order."

"And who may I ask neglected an order from the Council?" Bella arched an eyebrow, "you're forgetting, Fury. I can see every lie you have ever told. Since when did the rules make a difference to you?"

"Since the god of all gods entrusted me with his crazy fuck of a son," Fury bit back at her, "and it seems quite clear that you two are having-."

"What?" Bella bit at him, "a relationship? Christ, Fury, you really are a sick dude," she shook her head, sighing.

"You may accuse me of something I have done," Loki crossed his arms, "but do not accuse me of something I have not; otherwise I shall have to do it." There was a half-smile on his face, but with an icy glare from Bella, he 'pulled his head in', as the humans said.

"We're friends, that's all," Bella sighed, "Stevo?"

Steve shrugged, "you two do seem pretty close . . ."

Bella growled, "Not you to . . ."

Loki began to fume, and as they argued semantics, he slowly got angrier and angrier. It was one thing getting into trouble for something he did, but worse when somebody accused him of something he did not do. He was suddenly reminded of how Odin always believed Thor over him, and that only made him angrier.

"Why would he hit a guy to protect your _honor_ if he wasn't getting a little something else out of it?" Fury bit at her, "and why do you keep insisting that you don't need to be relieved on the detail?"

"I call that being a good agent," Bella bit back.

"How dare you insinuate such a thing," and that's when Loki lost it, and hit Fury in his one good eye, and was promptly arrested.


	24. Chapter 24

And he was back in the Rock. Steve Rodgers was facing disciplinary action and Fury had taken Bella's badge and sidearm, and as he looked through the skylight, he could see a storm brewing. He had never been alone during a storm.

Perhaps he did like Bella, a lot, but they were only friends, and that would be the way that they would remain, perhaps for the rest of her short, mortal life.

Fury , instead of postulating grandiosely and pacing around, telling him how inescapable the Wonder Cell was, he elected just to stare at him for a long time as he slopped all over the bench seat, his civilized decorum all but gone. It was hardly needed in this state.

"How's the eyeball, Eyeball?" he asked.

"How's the ass, Ass?" Fury bit back.

"Still bouncing on the beltway," he sounded more natural than he had in years, and he was speaking in another language with another type of slang. Yep, this squishy, mortal form was weak. Fury had beaten the hell out of him. He was sure a lot stronger than that pussy Daniel. He tossed a quarter above him and caught it each and every time, bored out of his mind, "If you want me to pour out my heart to you in this James Bond moment, you can just forget it."

Fury's gaze did not waver, "as a warning to you, the floor is electrified, the safe path across changes every two seconds."

"I know," he said plainly, "however, you needn't do through this costly charade, if you wished to spend some quality time with me, all you had to do was ask," he leered slightly, but Fury wasn't rocked. This man was like a stone.

"There's a copy of War and Peace there if you get bored," he tossed something else into the cell before he locked it up again, "a harmonica, so you can play the blues as you sit here alone." Was it his imagination, or was Fury a bit too content with this current position? Then again, in his deluded mind, Loki had compromised one of his best agents and humiliated SHIELD. Even Captain America's lily white reputation had been tarnished.

_Why bother killing people unless they are completely mortified first?_

Loki looked directly at Fury, "I can just talk to myself. I am insane after all. Know this also; no cell is escape proof, and much like its namesake, the Rock will be compromised. Even now my escape is at hand."

"Good luck," Fury shrugged, turning to walk away.

"With a brain as clever as mine, I do not need such trivial things as luck," he bit back, "although I might need a passport and a first class ticket to the Caribbean."


	25. Chapter 25

Tony Stark had been well aware of Loki's return to Earth, and he himself had warned Fury that he was playing with fire. And it appeared that his greatest fears had come to light. Someone was blackmailing the President, demanding that the president was to become his puppet, and also the launch codes of the Football, and while nuclear and other power facilities were being shut down all over the world, some in explosions, causing blackouts all across Europe, Asia and America.

The man that appeared to the president was tall dark and brooding, seen entirely as a silhouette, but Stark had seen the footage. The man had a familiar stature, and a familiar hat, and he marched down to his basement in Malibu where one last super suit was stored. This was the mark 666 or Justin (a briefcase suit, in case anyone is wondering), only to be used for one purpose, if he was to fight the devil himself. It was for the return of Loki.

He had donned the armour over eight hours ago when the news had come in, and while the other Avengers were pulling survivors out of the wreckage of power plants, he was flying to DC. There was someone he needed to see, and answers that he needed to find.

Rodriguez was almost like family to him, originally an experiment in biotechnology, he decided he rather liked the quick-witted Marine gunnery sergeant, and kept making better and better upgrades for her bionic limbs. He had even employed all the doctors in charge of her rehabilitation, and when she could walk, he took her to a dance. Of course, the paparazzi went crazy over her, and she was plastered all over TV as the robotic war hero, Robo-Marine as they called her.

After destroying the suits, he was still into green energy and biotechnology, making the most amazing Iron Man inspired prosthesis ranges developed from the original design he had used to keep Isabella Rodriguez alive. The destruction of all his Iron Man suits was all over the news thanks to the paparazzi, not to mention Stacy Davenport who worked for CNN, who he had promoted to his official stalker a few months ago, and the biotechnology business took off. Bella Rodriguez showed up at every Stark Expo with her metal side exposed as a sort of promotional tool for him, and an opportunity for a holiday for her.

She knew all about Loki, because she had stormed the tower independently of the Avengers with a small force of Marines from Ellis Island, that and he told her the details that she otherwise would not be privy to. He was only a consultant, and in the rush to save the planet, SHIELD had never made him sign a non-disclosure agreement. When she was offered the detail, Tony had tried to convince her not to take it, but when the Marine got it in her head that she was going to do something, she had to do it, especially when Tony had told her not to. Nobody told her what to do. She reminded him of someone really annoying . . .

Her car was in the driveway, and he landed carefully on the balcony of the townhouse. He walked inside, but then he realised that if Bella was still here, she would probably be in the basement with a bottle of Jack and a piece of wood. He climbed down the stairs, hoping that he would not wake up Sophia as she slept. It was almost midnight. He entered the basement without an issue to see Bella with the bottle of bourbon in her hand, staring down at her dog tags in her lap.

"Bella," he said. She looked up. Judging by her eyes, she had not been drinking for long, probably waited for her daughter to finally get to sleep, "Where's Bambi?" Stark demanded to know.

"Not here," she swigged at the bottle.

"Yeah, B, I can see that," Tony arched an eyebrow, "where is he?"

"The Rock," She bit back, "for a super genius, you're a real moron."

"I have a right to be skeptical," Tony said defensively, "considering that there's a reindeer-headed freak tearing apart the west coast."

She looked up at him, "say what?"

"You haven't heard about the fire sale?"

"Did I mention Fury took my badge?" she swaggered up to him, "insubordination, so 'e says. I didn't understand half the shit he said. He pretty much accused me of fucking the kid."

Stark rolled his eyes, he had no idea whether that was true or not, and to be frank, he didn't care. What Bella chose to do in her own life was legally none of his business. He sighed, "If it is Loki, we know exactly how to stop him."

"Why are you sure it's him?"

"Why are you sure it's not?" Perhaps there was some truth to Fury's theory after all.

"He's not evil, Tony," she put the bottle of Jack down on the saw bench, "he's a scared kid that's been through hell, and you should stop being an insensitive prick."

_Be sensitive? To that guy? He tried to kill me! _That was when he decided to think about it logically, "so, if he is responsible, the Rock will be empty. Care to come with?"

"I've been fired, Tony."

"You're the only one the _Kid_ trusts," Tony told replied sarcastically.

"Okay, but you're driving." She got up and walked up the stairs, back up to the second floor where Sophie was sleeping. Stark followed her up. She peeked in.

"Stark!" she shouted, "Tony! Get up here!" he joined her as fast as he could without burning a hole through her hall floor with his flight stabilizers.

A man dressed entirely in black leaned over Sophie's bed and Bella put two rounds in his back. There was a light around Sophia, but then she and the light disappeared. Bella continued to shoot until her clip was empty. All the bullets melted before hitting home.

"Agent Rodriguez," it was not Loki, or any of the other gods she had come to know and despise over these short few weeks, "I have heard much about you, my dear. I condemn myself disappointed."

"You bastard," she hissed, entirely sober, "give me my daughter back or I swear to God I'll rip your lungs out."

"Run to Loki," the man said, "go on, run!"

With a tiny nod meant only for him, Tony Stark discharged his flight stabilizer at him, but he disappeared. The blast instead decimated the room; the only thing left untarnished was Sophia's poster for school, covered in runes, and myths that Sophia had pressured out of Loki over the past two weeks

"Holy shit," she whispered, " I think I know who it is."

She folded herself into the Impala. She was driving, suddenly sobered from the events that had just transpired. Stark folded himself in next to her, and she gunned the engine.

"Who in the name of me was that?"

"Utgardaloki," she reeled off, "some giant king big on sorcery. He used it to protect his kingdom from somebody during one of the great wars. Thor and Loki were sent there about five hundred years ago to try to broker a peace. But he tested them to determine if they were worthy. At the end, Thor tried to crush the man for deceiving them with the tests, but he disappeared. Loki was the only one not angry and got close to finishing his task. Then again, he was competing against his best friend. Needless there was no peace, but Utgarda seemed to disappear after that, along with his castle."

"So, the guy has a grudge," Tony crossed his arms.

"Congratulations, detective, on busting this case so fast," she bit back snidely, "why appear to appear in Loki's form, why would he take Sophia?"

"To set Loki up as the bad guy," Tony concluded, however he really did not believe it. Five hundred years was a bit long to hold a grudge. His longest standing record was only five years. "It makes sense. Get everybody looking at him so they don't see the dude behind the scenes."

"That's what I'd do," Bella said flatly.

"That's what the Wizard of Oz did."

She stopped on the banks of a river. They were here in Arlington. Everybody had a base here, CIA, FBI, and SHIELD. Virginia was technically a commonwealth state, so it was well and truly legal to run these operations from Arlington. She pulled her balaclava over her head.

"Okay, we get in, get the package and get out," Stark gave her a small nod, but she could tell that he wasn't happy with the idea; after all he had been thrown off his own tower by Loki. But one thing was for certain, if Utgarda was back, Loki was the only one that could save the world, and she knew that Tony understood this. He was many things, but 'idiot' was not one of them.

He played the harmonica as his mind whirred, calculating and extrapolating the patterns in the electricity flow, and so far nothing. The pattern was seemingly random, and he feared that he was going to die before solving this. Fury was the type of man to have him executed.

The floor was all but deserted. All he knew was that he had heard alarms earlier and a lot of the guards on this level had left, but the storm was in full fury above him, and he was focusing on the patterns in front of him and the harmonica so he didn't freeze up or otherwise go psychotic. A part of him was expecting his brother to lumber in and beat the crap out of him with Mjolnir.

And then silence, all but the rumbling and his harmonica. He hated silence somewhere between heights and hammer. But shortly later, all he could hear was a massive crack, and rain started pouring in. A figure in black fatigues and a ski mask rappelled down a rope into the room. For a second, he did not know who it was, but the Iron Man, Tony Stark, landed in front of the cage as the figure in black landed and he caught a glimpse of silver colored titanium.

Stark went to one of the control consoles and began to tap away at it as Bella pressed herself to the glass, "the sequence!" she yelled, "do you know the sequence?"

"No," he told her. She glanced over at Stark.

"I'm working on it, Marino," he snapped, "I'm on my way."

She came up behind him, "no, Turkey Neck, we are on _my_ way!" She punched through the console and the whole room shorted out and the door of the Rock came open with a pneumatic hiss. Loki ran to join them. She pulled her hand from the console, the fake skin tearing from the metal of her hand, and she looked down at it for a moment.

"What in the name of the Norns is going on?" he demanded to know.

"Utgardaloki," Bella answered back simply, grabbing the pistols holstered at her hips and handing one to Loki, "you'll need this, bud."

He took the Glock from her in an air of surprise. He had shot with human weapons, but never had someone handed him one in such an air of confidence.

"Bad move, Bella," Stark informed her.

"Quiet, Robit," she snapped, "let's blow this joint."


	26. Chapter 26

The fire fight was massive, and unbeknownst to him, Bella had modified these pistols to shoot tranquilizers. Rule one; never kill someone who didn't deserve it. These men were just doing their jobs, and eventually they fought their way back to the Impala, hidden carefully under several fallen branches.

"We have to get to Asgard!" Loki yelled over the pounding storm.

"Why?" Tony yelled back, "this is our problem, not theirs," he tore away the larger branches.

"You weren't there for the war, I was," Loki bit back, "he will tear your mightiest heroes to shreds. He nearly killed me," he snapped, "and this sucker's gonna be hard to kill."

Tony shoved him into the back of the car, "oi, Stark, no manhandling the aliens," Bella snapped at him getting into the driver's seat as Tony sat in the front next to her.

"So what's going on then, Reindeer Games?"

Loki thought for a long time, "there was a war, a long time ago," he said, "Utgarda's province, un-imaginarily called Utgarda, was a province of Jotunheim. Utgarda was strong enough that he started to challenge Laufey's power, and a war started between them," Tony nodded, "I guess Odin must have been on a humanitarian kick then because he sent Thor and I to diffuse the situation. We stayed with Utgarda for a night, where he proceeded to humiliate us. The next day, Thor lost his head, tried to hit the man, but then he disappeared and took the entire city with him," Loki shrugged, "nothing is known of whether he still exists."

"What about that other dude, Lough?"

Loki shrugged, "He has been my best friend for centuries and came back with us to Asgard because that was his only way to get back to Muspellheim. On the way back to the Bifrost site, our party was attacked. We managed to fight them off just in time."

"Sounds like he's pretty powerful," Tony stroked his chin, looking dignified beyond his years, "but why couldn't he kill you? Are you Harry Potter or something?"

Loki shrugged, "I'll believe anything."

"Why can't Heimdall see him?" Tony asked.

"Did I not just say that he is powerful?" Loki snapped, "I am no good under stress," he muttered, "think of a calm lake," he muttered to himself, "far from here."

"How do we get to Asgard?" Bella asked, "Ask Heimdall to beam us up?"

"Even if we could get to the site in time, I doubt tall, dark and creepy will let us in," Tony said for him, and he scowled.

"Portal travel," Loki perked up, "the closest one around here is at a place you call Rock Creek Park."

"But there's only one of us that can fly," Tony reminded them.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot Luke lost his Skywalker."

Loki either wasn't listening or no longer cared what he was being called for he got that little mischievous glint in his eye and a half smile curled on his lips, "where is the nearest airport?"

"I see why you did not argue when Fury took your badge," Loki protested, glancing through her other box of fake or stolen identification cards, FBI, CIA, SHIELD, the works.

"That and I still have all my teeth," Bella replied, selecting a card for him and for herself, "and I am very proud of that,"

Loki smiled at her, really, honest to God smiled.

Stark would follow in his suit. He was not comfortable that his friend was working hand in hand with the man who had destroyed New York, but he could deal with it for the moment.

"Chris Jacobs," he read the card that he had been given, "oh, no, I am not using this card."

"Why not?"

"It says 'Bikini inspector'," he snapped back.

"No one will ask to see it," she slapped his shoulder, getting out of the car. Loki followed suit, setting his boots on the tarmac. She was already at the back of the car, piling on every weapon that she could think of and strapping it across her shoulders, anywhere she could fit extra weapons. Loki loaded up too, knives in particular.

A pilot was prepping his Cessna on the runway, and Bella flashed her ID at him, "agent Williams, FBI, we need to commandeer your plane," the old man looked at her skeptically, "I'll bring it back."

"Okay," he handed over the keys to her, "you break it, you bought it."

"C'mon Probie," she mentioned to Loki, who scowled, but otherwise followed her into the cabin of the small plane and began to unload some of their weapons.

The owner of the plane just looked at them for a moment, "damn kids."

She sat in the pilot's seat just before Loki. He growled a little, "I am the pilot," he snapped at her.

"You flew spaceships," Bella replied, strapping herself in with the safety belt, "sit over there, guide me to this portal. Tony will be following."

He did as he was told, albeit grumpily, "I thought the Corps didn't have an airborne division," he crossed his arms defiantly.

"I got my creds through the Navy," Bella replied flatly, "the Corps don't have flying schools, neither do they have medics, they're all Navy."

Loki arched an eyebrow, "great mystery solved," he huffed, "I still think I should be flying this bucket."

Bella sighed, "You're cute," she said, "so why do I want to hit you all the time?"

Loki shrugged, "perhaps because you like hitting things."

She flicked some switches and turned a couple of knobs, but then began to taxi the Cessna down the tarmac, ready for takeoff, "out of you and I," she put her flight headphones over her ears, and Loki followed suit, "who's hit more people in the past week?" she got him.

After that, all there was, silence and the ever persistent whine of the twin engines as the plane lifted off. She could see Loki's face twist into a pained scowl and his hands tighten on the armrests.

"Nervous?" she asked.

"Yes."

"First time?"

"No, I've been nervous lots of times."

"We've all got to be afraid of something," Bella smiled at him as she made the plane climb into the air, "it's only natural."

"What are you afraid of?"

She didn't have to say anything, she just looked him in the eye, and his face softened slightly.

It was then that Loki's head cleared, and for once he felt although he was in the right place at the right time. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew why. Bella Rodriguez had taken him into her home, fed him, clothed him and cared for him like no one had before, and Sophia was smart, gentle and inquisitive, she reminded him of himself which was slightly creepy in a way. They had adopted him into their family, and he was doing to do his damn best to defend his family.


	27. Chapter 27

ASGARD: BIFROST

"Heimdall, you called me here, please stop talking in riddles," Thor implored the tall, dark gatekeeper who just looked down from his pedestal, looking as stoic as ever in his own golden armor.

"Midgard is under attack," he said simply. Finally, a straight answer!

"Who by?"

"They are cloaked to me," Heimdall answered. That was really useful. Thor knew of only one that could conceal himself from Heimdall; Loki, and his powers had been taken. "it is not your brother," Heimdall sensed his thoughts, "I see him, and he ventures forth, searching for help."

"Loki is coming here?" Thor was confused. If he was coming here, he would be using one of his secret portals, but how? He still had no power.

And then there was a blinding flash of light in the sky, and Heimdall grinned in a way he had never done before, "your brother returns."

Over the gleaming city the small Cessna rocketed, the first ever human craft to have ventured into this realm. There were few flat surfaces on Asgard, and most of which were on palace grounds, and not long enough for a runway landing. The only long, flat stretch that would suffice was Bifrost itself.

Thor was on the surface of Bifrost as the large, metal beast came in for the landing, touching down on Bifrost, and a metal man landed down beside him, and he was staring into the eyes of Tony Stark's one remaining super suit.

"Point Break."

"Metal Man." He admonished coldly. The plane came to a stop with an exceedingly good short runway landing procedure and a figure leaped from the cockpit. It was an incredible sight, the wings jutting out several meters beyond the bridge. Another figure leaped out in a long trench coat.

"Impressive landing, Hartman," Tony called to her as she approached. A smaller figure skulked behind her.

Loki smiled at Thor, "good to see you, I think."


	28. Chapter 28

Thor made a point to bring them before Odin himself, and stood by his brother. He held his hammer defensively.

"Get that _thing_ away from me," Loki sneered, glancing down at Mjolnir. Thor looked down at it too, and his brow furrowed.

_Loki's afraid of you._ Bella's voice rattled through his head, and he put the hammer down on the ground. Loki visibly relaxed, slightly. He was about to face Odin, and somehow not crack.

Bella put a hand on his shoulder, "cool it, Frozone. If anyone's gonna cry, it'll be me."

"Nice decor," Tony marveled at the throne room, mostly deserted except for Sif and the Warriors Three, standing off to Odin's side as he sat on his throne, eyeing them beadily. "I am _so_ doing my bar like this!"

Loki rolled his eyes, "oh, lord . . ."

Bella smiled politely if a little thinly, "four thousand years and two kids," she mused, "performance issues. Nothing to be ashamed of."

Loki looked at her, "you're just as bad as each other."

Bella smiled a cheesy movie star grin, "totes amazeballs."

"What?"

"I dunno," Bella admitted, a little deflated.

To be honest, Odin looked like a nasty Santa Claus, like if the Hells Angels were organizing the Christmas party at the children's hospital. His missing eye was covered by a golden patch and his beard, while grizzled, was neatly combed, he was dressed simply in robes, and was missing his pointy hat.

"Damn, that throne looks uncomfortable," Bella winced as they approached closer.

"It is not made for comfort," Loki's eyes narrowed, "it is made for intimidation."

"I think it's cool," Tony replied, "I want it."

"You would," Bella scoffed.

"Come no further," Odin bellowed, and Loki's shoulders drooped. He had seen this coming. "Remove your weapons." He eyed Loki beadily, as if expecting him to disappear or otherwise lob a grenade at him.

"Don't look at me," Tony told the old man, "the suit keeps me alive," it was partially true, or at least it would have been a few years ago. He wasn't sure if Odin bought it or not.

Loki arched an eyebrow and pulled a few knifes from his coat, "hold these, Thor," he handed them to his brother delicately, "no stabbing, I already feel terrible, I believe I have the Flu." Thor nodded to him demurely, even though he did not completely understand, "Now the only weapon I possess it my razor sharp wit," he never broke eye contact with his adoptive father, "one which I shall only relinquish with my last breath."

"Nice one, Starscream," Tony clapped his shoulder. Loki looked down at the Deceptacon symbol on his shirt then back up at Tony, an eyebrow arched, his 'we are not amused' face.

Bella sighed and approached one of the larger tables that had not been packed away yet from the previous night's feasting. The warriors three eyed her carefully, Volstagg and Hugun both no doubt wondering when she would strike, and Fandral had nothing running through his mind except 'damn, damn, damn!'

She removed two side arms from her belt, followed by a couple of grenades, fragmentation grenades, flash-bangs. She removed one set of pointed brass knuckles from an inside coat pocket followed by three or four knives. She removed more guns and knives from her thigh holsters and from inside her boots. She unstrapped several ammo belts from the inside of her thighs. She reached down her back, removing a long dagger from along her spine. She appraised it before putting that too on the table. Then she reached down her bra and retrieved a large amount of plastique explosive, and Fandral's eyes popped.

"What? No armored car?" Loki looked at her bemused.

"That would be in my other coat, Starscream," she straightened her coat back up and approached the throne slightly, "are you satisfied?"

He nodded demurely, and Bella got that creepy feeling she always did when she went to church, of course, one had to remember that while she was raised catholic, she only went to church when people died.

"Let me do the talking," Loki demanded and Bella shrugged. Tony didn't really care much, and decided to just sit back and chill for the meantime, "suck in the gut, Tony, you're an Avenger."

"Bite my shiny metal ass."

"We seek audience with the Allfather."

"That is most civil for you, Loki."

"This is a rather important issue I bring before you," Loki blinked a couple of times, but he was no less intense, "Utgardaloki." He began to kneel down, but then there was a massive crack and his knee locked, "A little help, please," Bella kicked the back of his knee, bringing him to the ground, "kindly rethink your definition of help."

"Bite me, Spaceman."

"Just kneel."

"Listen, Frosty, just because," she waved her hand, "Grandpa here is the self-proclaimed dictator of a non-existent empire does not mean that _I_ have to kneel before him like a five buck-."

"Shut up, Bella," Loki snapped, "just to it."

"I see where you get it from," Tony replied snidely.

"Shut up, Tony," Loki snapped, "let me do the talking."

"Utgardaloki has been dead for hundreds of years," Odin snapped, choosing to ignore the insolent bickering of children, or that was how Loki thought that the old man saw it. He got up again. It was pointless to try to act all civilized now the air of decorum had been shattered.

"He's got a pretty loud voice for a dead guy," Tony replied.

"He clearly was live enough to snatch my daughter, wasn't he?" Bella snapped back at him, "and he doesn't believe me," she growled.

"Is there anyone else that can substantiate your claim, Human?" Odin narrowed his eye at her, but she was not at all fazed. At this moment, she did not give a shit about what he called her. All she needed was an excuse, but with a protective forearm, Loki held her back.

"Tony Stark, your honor," Tony stepped up and saluted, "I was there, and before you ask, Loki tried to kill me and drank all my gin, so this is in no way a ploy. I would never be on his side if I hadn't seen Sophia get taken with my own eyes."

Odin cocked his head.

"He doesn't care," Bella snarled.

"Let me handle it," Loki snapped.

"And you're doing a fantastic job," Bella shot back, "fine, stellar, remarkable, incredible, marvelous, dandy, fuckin' peachy . . ."

"Thank you for all the adjectives," Loki's eyes narrowed, "it does not matter if you believe me or not," he suddenly became very dark and serious, crossing her arms, "what does matter is that I need a small contingent of men, and Gugnir at my disposal in order to stop this catastrophe and save Sophia De Martino from whatever fate Utgardloki has in store for her."

"Even if I could bring myself to believe you," he started, "what you ask of me is impossible. I can spare no men, and Gugnir is missing."

He rolled his eyes, "unbelievable . . . the one time that damn spear has actually been needed in over a thousand years," he shook his head, "you? Lose it . . ."

"I cannot help you," he told them flatly, "but according to the terms of the Asgard-Midgard alliance, I am authorized to place you under arrest.

"That sounds more like 'won't' than 'can't'," Tony arched an eyebrow.

"Hulk sanction!" Loki glanced at Bella wearing a tiny grin.

"Nah," Bella said, "Odin smash."

"I like that," he smiled, but as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared and he looked Odin in the eye, "I have escaped from the dungeon before," he threatened, "and if you do not afford me what I desire, I shall be forced to take it from you."

"At the jeopardy of the nine realms?" Odin seemed bemused, "arrest them! This meeting is over."

"Shit," Bella muttered as four warriors bared down at him, "who are these schmucks, Lokes?"

"May I introduce you to Lady Sif and the Warriors Three," Loki said quickly, and within a second, they were back to back, ready to fight their way out.

"That sounds like a bad pop group," she replied, balling her fists.

Loki's lips quirked slightly, "I think I may love you."

"Wait," Thor said simply, Volstagg, Hogun and Fandral stopped in their tracks, as did Sif.

"I said arrest them!"

"And I said wait."

"I am ordering you as your king!"

"I am asking you as your friend."

And that was when Odin stood and bared down on Thor, "how dare you countermand a direct order from me?"

"Oh, I dare," Thor smiled savagely, "the one thing I have learned from Loki is to dare. I will not condemn my own brother to the executioners' blade because of a desperate attempt to warn you of a danger you are too foolish to see."

"I have ruled longer than some stars have burned, and you still question my sight?"

"Perhaps it is a good time to make an appointment with the optometrist, you might need a pair of glasses," Tony quipped, "may I suggest the Ringo Starr special?" Either nobody heard him or nobody cared, either of which was a distinct possibility.

"You are not fit to rule!"

"I do not want to rule!" Thor boomed, "I saw my brother tainted by corruption and greed, and I saw you regress into a shadow of the man you once were for the same reason."

"Enough!" Bella flexed her fingers on her metallic hand, and the spring-loaded knife shot into her palm. As quick as a flash, she curved her arm and flung the knife. It missed Odin, it was not meant to hit Odin, but instead lodged into the backrest of the throne, drilling deep into it. Both the king's and the prince's eyes boggled.

Stark's eyes widened too underneath his mask, "we're all gonna die."

With a swipe of her hand, the great doors at the end of the hall slammed shut like a bolt of thunder, and even Loki jumped. Odin's pets did not seem sure of what to do.

"Yo, Wisenheimer," she approached him, her coat flailing out behind her as she climbed the stairs to retrieve the knife, "yeah, I'm talking to you. You screwed the pooch this time, pal."

"It's somewhere between FUBAR and TARFU," Tony explained to Loki, but his brow furrowed deep anyway.

"Humans are strange."

"That's the last little piece of the puzzle I needed, the puzzle called Loki, and that piece has your name written all over it, buddy," she pulled the knife from the stone with her metallic right hand and pointed it at him, "this," she mentioned to Loki with the tip of the knife, "is your son, your creation."

"He is not my son," Odin leered at her.

"Jesus H, Christ," Bella moaned, "do I have to explain this to the pair of you idiots?" she sighed, "family has absolutely nothing to do with blood. The moment you picked up that adorable blue baby, he became your family," she grinned, "and _then_ you started fucking up. You raised two boys so that one would end up hating the other. First there was Thor, the big one, the strong one, the one Daddy loves. And Loki, the other one, spare parts so to speak. A stolen relic locked up here until you have use of him," she narrowed her eyes at him; "you never listened, or helped. The only one that even gave a shit about Loki was Frigga, his dear, departed Mama. He needed attention, so he got it the only way he knew how. He lashed out."

Loki listened to her, biting his lip and slowly becoming more and more uncomfortable. Thor watched Bella although she was some sort of witch. He rejoined his brother at the bottom of the stairs and put a hand on his back to steady him.

"Soon he discovered that the more intricate and disastrous he made his schemes, the more attention he would get, and gets in worse and worse trouble. It is the only way for him to get the attention he craves from you, and _you_ reinforced this trickery," she arched an eyebrow, "and I don't know about your cunning plan for him, but there are princesses of Jodunheim are there not?" she looked him in the eye, "I reckon you wanted to install him as a puppet king, to impose _your_ rule on Jodelheim. Am I right?" she asked softly, her voice a million daggers, "but he didn't wanna play ball. You conveniently went nappy-poos and he decided to prove to you that he was worthy, and he went completely overboard with it."

"But that childish desire ended the moment he fell from Bifrost, the moment he let go, also because of you. You said 'no'," She said simply, "confirming all his fears of abandonment. You lost all your faith in him, so he lost all faith in himself, and he let go, and fell," she paced before him, "there are cracks, separating the universe we know and other universes, and Loki fell right through one and found the Chitauri, a warrior race that consumes entire galaxies, feeding on life forces, a hive species. They saw him as an opportunity, to lead them to richer hunting grounds. They tortured him, but he resisted, until his mind was overrun by the Hive. He hid deep within himself, but found only pain, which is why he wanted to kill his brother so badly. Even now he refuses all help for the pain we know he is suffering. He was conditioned that the only person he could truly trust was himself. You made him the way he is."

"How?"

"You see, he has always held himself up to some pretty rigid standards, to you, to Thor. He strives to be just like you, all he has ever done was try to prove to himself that he was worthy of the name Odinson," she smiled slightly, humorlessly, "you see, part of Loki is still that annoying little kid that used to follow you around wherever you went. He idolizes you, looks up to you, and then he sees what you have done and thinks that it is right. And he also scorns himself, for not being you, not being able to cope like you do. No matter what he does, he can never live up to you. Have you ever told him that you were proud?" she sneered, "and that is why he has never been certain of himself and therefore is weak, it drove him mad," she turned back to face Loki who had gone deathly pale, "until I grabbed him by the ear and dragged him kicking and screaming into the real world."

He looked up at her, his eyes slightly dewy, "where the hell did you learn so much about me?"

"Internet?" Tony offered.

She nodded to him then reasserted her gaze and attention back to Odin, "now, do you see, oh heavenly father, your kid's been screwed. And don't you dare tell me he's not your son, because he damn well is. You made him into this monster. And for what? So you can sit back in your comfy throne and go 'oh well, he's not my son anyway' and 'someone else will deal with him'. You might as well have just told him to his face that his thoughts were invalid, nobody gave a crap about his ideas and you would like him better if he was like normal kids. And you stroke your own ego by telling yourself that these past thousand and fifty years meant nothing, and that you know right," her lips tightened, a clear sign that she was getting angry, "you're supposed to be this magnificent, omnipotent being, but you seem to me like a colossal prick with a Hasbro magic kit. You make me sick. I'm sick of your act as a benevolent being, I am sick of the way you treat those around you, and I am _sick_ of the way you and your dipshit followers tell me that you're gonna kick my ass if I don't do what you say, that all you have to do is scratch your space-balls and everybody gets struck up the ass with a bolt of lightning. So, come on, come on down here! Kick my ass!"

Odin was fuming, "you're insolence is appalling. You will be severely punished for this."

"I don't think you have the _balls_," she narrowed her eyes, "oh, right, I'm forgetting something, you're a bearded, mythical _fuck_ on a golden throne and I'm just a pitiful, little Midgardian, right? But I can walk right up to you and slap the living shit out of you, and all you can do is whine about it, right?"

There was a long awkward silence, and nobody moved.

"Now you will listen to me," Loki sneered, "I don't want your power. I do not care for Asgard any longer. I do not want to be here, I may leave my life knowing as little as Tony."

"Hey!"

"I don't want to rule, anything, which is the only thing that Thor and I have in common. There's a little girl out there in the hands of a maniacal sorcerer, most probably scared out of her wits," he cocked his head dangerously, "my only wish is to save her life. She is my best friend, and I would never forgive myself if something happened to her because of me. I do believe you were once the same."

Odin's demeanor didn't change, "that is how monsters such as you live. Every so often, you spare one, often on a whim, because she smiled, or because he is polite-."

Loki held up a finger for quiet, and then smiled, "only a monster would know that," his grin became more and more savage, "I guess I am your son after all."

Bella grinned. It was Loki's turn to hand out some cuss, "oorah. Sass that prick!"

"And as we are so much alike, I know the purpose of the Asgard-Midgard alliance. It is to stunt human evolution is it not?" his lips flattened, "to make sure that the humans rely on you and cannot advance on their own," he grinned, "they may have stopped believing in us, you never stopped ruling them, did you? But now you do so under the futile guise of protection."

"_Oo_rah," Bella cheered him on.

"Is it not enough to rule all of Asgard and to have the mighty Jotuns cower at your feet? Is it not enough to 'protect' the realms with an iron fist? You have to pose as a benevolent ruler to allow you to control the last wildcard in all the reams, the least advanced and by far the most ingenious of the peoples I have come across this far. At least _I_ was honest," he took a few giant steps closer; "at least _I_ never pretended to be something _I_ was not. I see there is one rule for the king and another for everybody else," he spread his arms self-importantly, "I do have blood on my hands, however you have blood all over. I understand I can never make amends for my actions, but I do not pretend they never happened," he gritted his teeth, out of breath; "It means that I have a chance of redemption."

"Why are you staring at my brother?" Thor whispered to Bella.

"Selfless concern. I think he's stopped breathing."

"You are a murderer and a thief!" Odin bellowed.

"How are you any different, All-father?" he screamed back, "except I understand that I can never wash the blood from my hands! You continue to lie, to _fix your reputation_, as it is," there was venom dripping from him, "a kingdom built on murder and deceit, spreading through the realms like a plague. All you do is lie, and lie and lie. Do you ever stop?"

"Holy shit," Bella whispered, "is he turning blue?"

"Yes, he is," Thor confirmed.

"He's definitely stopped breathing."

"I may have spent most of my life making underhanded deals with our enemies, but it is better than destroying everything in your path with little more than a thought and a twitch with no regard for life," black veins began to pop out in his neck and along his forehead, and Sif gasped. This was apparently new for them.

"And you believe that by saving one pitiful mortal, you can make amends for the innocent lives you have taken?"

And that was when Loki exploded completely. The walls began to shake, and frost started creeping on the steps leading up to Odin's throne, "no," he said simply, "have you not been listening you senile, old goat? I cannot wash the blood from my hands, and so I shall not even attempt it. Nothing I can do will save me from the spirits of those I have killed, but before I die, I would like to do one good thing, just one. And Sophia is not pitiful! She is smart and kind, and you are an asshole!" he bellowed back, "I don't care what you say. I don't care what anyone says. I will march through the gates of Niffleheim to save her, and don't you even dare tell me I cannot. I have a new duty, a new purpose, and if you don't like it, you can kiss my ass, you can kiss my entire ass!"

"Oorah!" Bella shouted, pumping her fists, "oo-fucking-rah!"

"I will join you, Brother," Thor clasped him on the shoulder, and for the first time in years, Loki smiled at him, his eyes almost teary as he re-assumed his original form.

"I am damn proud of you," Bella punched his arm playfully.

"Then you know I'm in," Sif walked across the room just to join their party.

"Its madness," Volstagg insisted, "I shall join you."

"It'll be fun," Fandral said with a sneaky grin.

"This is an honorable pursuit," Hogun added.

"We're in," Fandral said for them.

Loki's smile only got wider, "semper fi," he whispered to Bella.

"Semper fi."

And that was about when the guards busted down the door, "shit."


	29. Chapter 29

"I have a question, Loki," Tony crossed his arms.

"Go ahead," he narrowed his eyes, sounding a little more deflated than usual, "I have nothing better to do than to answer your questions."

"When you came here from wherever the hell you came here from, you came out in the desert, right?"

"Yes, so?"

"Why didn't you go for the nukes?" Tony asked, "I mean, if you wanted to take over the world, why not choose to do it the easy way?"

Loki rolled his eyes, "were you not listening to anything said in the throne room?" he bit at Tony, and then realizing that he probably hadn't, he leaned against the wall casually, "I was trying to get you to beat me."

"Like I said then, not a great plan."

"I was hardly myself at the time," Loki bit back, "I am sure you have read Speedy's report."

Both of them grinned as Loki used Bella's old call-sign.

"It didn't make a great deal of sense," Tony shrugged, "I'm no good with the shrink-wrap."

Bella continued to pace, "it was like being conscious yet powerless," she growled.

"Not entirely," he growled under his breath, "I am Loki of Asgard, and whatever tortures that Thanos could devise could not remove that from me. I manipulated Thanos's own hunger for glory, and used that as a way to beat him. I never wanted to hurt anyone," he sighed, sinking deeper into his own misery, "you should be flogged for taking so long. I certainly gave you enough clues. You and Banner were the smart ones; you should have figured it out sooner."

Tony raised his eyebrows, "serious?"

"Serious," Loki crossed his arms, "I put too much faith in your pathetic race."

"Watch it, Spaceman!"

"The race I am referring to is Americans," Loki said quickly.

"That's better," Bella continued to pace, looking paler and paler by the second.

Sif crossed her arms, "nice story, too bad it's all a lie." Loki began to seethe, but otherwise said nothing.

"This is definitely against the Geneva Convention," Bella hissed.

"Being locked up, you mean?" Tony asked her.

"Nah, being locked up with Sif." Thor and the Warriors Three decided to stand as far away from Bella as possible and to shut bad Sif didn't share their sentiments. She sat on the floor whining that anything involving Loki got her into trouble, to which Tony replied 'somebody call the wambulance'. Loki kept giving her cutting glances, but decided it was best to let her rant, she was still bitter, about the hair, and they were only kids. It was more like a time out for Thor and his pet warriors, being that they were in another cell, one that seemed a little less secure.

Tony had already blasted his flight stabilizers at their cell and succeeded in blasting them all off their feet and against the wall. It was not his smartest move, and Bella decided that the dumbest smart person she had ever met was in fact Tony.

"I am getting motion sickness just watching you," Loki told her snidely.

"Shut up, Loki," Thor bit at him "at least Isabella is doing something."

"I am trying to concentrate on blowing up the cell," Loki crossed his arms defiantly.

"Very honorable," Sif said sarcastically.

"Sif," Tony said, "you don't want to make him angry. He'll Hulk-smash you."

"Oh, yeah, and how long did that take last time?" Bella either didn't hear them or didn't choose to dignify any of that bull with a response. Besides, Loki was well aware that he was the most interesting person that she could be talking to in this little white room.

"I was about to find out when Thor busted me out," he sighed and closed his eyes. He suddenly seemed very small and insignificant, "what's the point? There's no way out," was it her imagination or was he crying? He was suddenly very quiet and would look at no one; he stared at a patch of wall outside the cell longingly, but absently.

"Loki?" Thor asked.

"Crap," Bella whispered, "this is exactly what I was afraid of."

Fandral glanced at the whole scene, "what exactly is going on?"

"Quiet," Tony said, picking up on Bella's concern, "let the Marine do her work."

"The blood," he stared down at his hands, and then began to rub them together, "why won't it come off?" it was almost as though he didn't see everybody watching him, separated in his own reality. Someone had to break into that reality and get him out.

Bella's heart rate quickened. She didn't know what to do, but she knew that she had to do something. No one but her could possibly have the skills for this, there was no such thing as PTSD on Asgard. Bella bit her lip, "don't do this, not now."

"Don't look at me!" He ordered, his face reddening. He burst into tears and he buried his head in his hands, "don't look at me!" he was hyperventilating, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry . . ."

She knelt by him. She was going to do the only thing she knew how to do, what her training told her to do, to break him out of it, "get up, Marine," she said, her voice low, "Soph's counting on us," she leaned in by his ear, "do you really wanna disappoint your biggest fan?"

Loki looked at her for a moment, "what the hell are you talking about?"

"Listen to me, you infuriating, blue hobbit," she didn't raise her voice, "you said in there that she was your best friend and there was no way in Hell that you were going to let her down. Newsflash for you, Marine, you are letting her down. She loves you, she thinks you're the coolest person in the known universe and you're just gonna crash and burn. Is this why you have no friends? Is this why your family lost all faith in you? Prove them wrong," she narrowed her eyes, buzzing around in her blind spot, "get up, Marine, we have a job to do."

"What are you doing?" with a withering glare from Bella, Thor shrunk back in to his corner.

It worked, Loki looked up at her, "that's easy for you to say."

She put a hand on his shoulder, "you're a member of my team, you are a Marine now, son, and we have a job. And we're not accomplishing anything while you're staring into the abyss. Freak out, break down, cry, whatever. I'll even hold your hand, just do it later when everyone's safe. For now I want you to stay strong, Marine, be brave, not for you, not for me, but for my baby girl," she slapped him across the back of the head sharply, "pull your head out of your butt, open up your eyes and get back to work, Marine!"

Loki wiped away the tears, "I suppose."

"Wrong, Marine," she bit at him, looping her hand under his shoulder and hauling him up, "there is no 'I suppose'. There is only yes or no, Which one is it, Marine?"

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

He breathed, "Yes Gunnery Sergeant Ma'am."

"I didn't hear you, Marine."

"I am not saying it any louder," he narrowed his eyes.

Bella half-smiled, "good, Marine, real good. Now rule one. You do what you have to for family."

"Should I write that down or crotchet it on a pillow?"

"Wow," Tony nodded, "that was the shortest mental breakdown I have ever seen."

Bella grinned; Loki was back, or at least the breakdown was on hold, "Question, why can't we just reach out of here?"

"It is designed to destroy all living things," Volstagg answered for them, crossing his arms. Was it her imagination, or was there a tough of pride in his voice?

"Tony?"

He shook head, "no, my alloy isn't think enough," he crossed his arms, "it is a suit of armor, not a torque wrench."

"Once his armor is breached, it will chew through his arm," Thor told them bluntly.

She began to pace a little quicker when Loki's brow furrowed, "what about your arm?" Bella glanced at him for a second, "the bionic one."

Bella grinned, "Tones, how thick is my alloy?"

"Should do it," he replied.

"And it's not really alive by our definition," Loki added.

"How?" Thor asked.

Loki shrugged, "I decided to think like a mortal, and it appears that being an absolute idiot is just as important as being a genius sorcerer."

"Who are you calling an idiot?" Bella narrowed her eyes, "Snow-cone?"

"Meatsack."


End file.
